MSTT: Cinder's Pawns
by Dalastjedi
Summary: Unlikely allies are everywhere, but so are backstabbing liars. When a war-monger wanted in every Kingdom, a Guardian fallen from grace, an heir to a criminal empire against his own, and a master hacker are recruited by Cinder, will they help her accomplish her plans of spreading chaos, or will her own pride drive them together - and against her.
1. Prologue 1

The Vigilante's Path

" _Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell the truth." – A Poet_

Some people have, good days, others have bad days. For a fellow named T, he was having a rough, bad day.

Pulling himself out of the pile of rubble that had toppled onto him, he quickly took in his surroundings, having blacked out for a few seconds from being blown out of a window of a third storey abandoned factory, then being buried under several kilograms of concrete. Thankfully, he hadn't broken anything, although that didn't stop it from hurting like a truck had hit him. The pain was overwhelmed by panic, as he scrambled around the rubble for something very important to him-something vital to his survival. He found it lying barely four feet from him, neatly folded up.

It was his Scroll, but unlike most Scrolls, T's Scroll was custom-built from scratch, and more deadly than an Atlesian Spider Droid. However, in T's eyes, its most unique feature was that it's black colour.

He covered one of his eyes as he activated the other, sending out a pulse of black and white pixels that mapped the factory he stood next to and the streets beyond, piercing through the gloom of the moonless night, the streetlights non-operational after the virus that had swept through the three city blocks. Of course, the pulse could only travel so far, but it was good enough for him. Following the pulse of digital effects that only he could see, a small bar appeared in the bottom-left corner of his vision, displaying his Aura. Next to it, a display showed the time and his coordinates on the world.

He was able to memorize the layout of the area with the help of cybernetic implants in his one synthetic eye, which he then switched to night-vision. That was when a white highlighted object appeared in his vision, which he bent down to pick up. It was a brown cap, his brown cap. Slapping it on his head to cover his short brown hair and pulling up his face scarf like a bad criminal from a liquor store hold-up, he broke off into a sprint when more highlighted objects appeared from the front and back of the factory.

These new objects were highlighted in red, and when T used his night-vision, he made them out to be members of the infamous White Fang organisation, and he already knew that they had orders to kill him. He thought of it as intuition, but it helped that T could tap their communication lines with his Scroll. He knew why they were after him, but, it didn't matter.

Quickly shoving the Scroll into the pocket of his matt-black trousers, he quickly wiped some of the dirt off the brown overcoat that reached down to his knees, as he ran towards the smallest group of White Fang. With his cybernetic eye, he was able to highlight the weapons and armour the White Fang Faunuses were carrying, checking for weaknesses or vulnerabilities in their attire. Unfortunately, they had chosen some of their highest-grade equipment on their search. _Recalculating chances of success...97%._

Suddenly remembering that Faunuses had night-vision as well, he made a sharp turn and dove into the factory through one of the broken windows, his leather sneakers only making the subtlest of squeaks. He rolled to reduce his momentum before making another sharp turn and sprinting over to the window where the goons were. They had not spotted him, but T was sure that they would eventually find him, meaning that he had to finish his escape plan. Now.

The woman that was hunting him would undoubtedly pursue him if he ran, so what T needed to do was break her legs. Either the metaphorical or literal sense of the term would do, but one seemed easier to do since he had deployed a system virus that wiped out all electronic equipment for several blocks just moments ago.

Sprinting over to one of the windows, T watched as the White Fang goons continued to search the area in a tight circle formation. _Only six…_ he thought as he extended an electric shocker from his right arm, which appeared to be a normal arm covered by the sleeve of his overcoat and a fingerless glove. It was, in fact, far from normal.

He only hesitated for a second before jumping through the window, shattering the glass as he lunged fist first towards one of the goons. They all turned towards the sound of glass breaking, but it was too late as the dark figure sped towards them.

The shocker connected with his neck, causing him to spasm uncontrollably while T grabbed his pistol with his free hand to fire at the other goons. He was able to hit one in the chest, the impact of the bullet sending the Faunus to the floor, before the others came to their senses and scattered behind different chunks of rubble for cover.

T dropped the gun as he used the stunned Faunus as a shield while his right arm retracted its shocker and instead spread out two limbs to form a crossbow. Calculating how his plan would go in his mind – the mathematical calculations scrolling across his vision, he threw the unconscious, still-twitching Faunus forward as he fired an explosive bolt at the second floor of the factory.

The Faunuses sprayed bullets at his running figure for a few seconds before the crossbow bolt exploded, raining more debris and rock down on them. The falling debris also worked to block the path behind him, preventing the other squad of White Fang from pursuing him.

Rounding the corner of the abandoned factory, he ran into four sword-wielding White Fang members. He quickly bashed one on the side of the head, cracking his mask, while sweeping another off their feet as his left hand made contact with their neck. As one of the Faunus brought their sword down to slice him right down the middle, he brought up his right hand and blocked the slash with a resounding clash of metal.

T quickly broke the contact as he had to duck under another horizontal swing, which he then turned into a backwards roll. He quickly sprinted to another abandoned factory adjacent to the first, but not before he had thumbed the trigger of an explosive on one of the White Fang goons' belts.

"Someone, stop him!" one of the two shouted before they were both launched into the air by the force of the explosion. T didn't turn around to check whether they were down for the count or not, but it didn't matter.

As soon as he reached the factory, he went around the front entrance to in order to reach the loading bay on the far side. As soon as he arrived at the loading bays, he smashed a button mounted on a wall that caused a large door to retract into the ground.

Inside the loading bay, his escape vehicle sat quietly. It was a modified version of a standard Bullhead, with more powerful engines, rapid-firing machine guns, a pair of heavy duty missile launchers, and, most importantly, an advanced on-board computer. It's unique modifications and custom overhaul was finished off by its unique gunmetal-grey and ultramarine-blue paintjob, which was done in the form of digital camouflage – his Overwatch.

He had told it that he would have to leave quickly, and that it should begin pre-flight checks without him. T could already sense that it could take off if it wanted to, though without a pilot, it would just fly into the factory on the opposite side of the industrial block of Mistral he was in.

Now, all that stood between him and it were a dozen guards that stood with barricades erected and guns ready. One of them was even carrying a rocket launcher. _Chances of escape…dropped to 93%._

In his moment of hesitation about what to do, he could hear two other guns priming behind him as a Dust-powered flashlight shone at him, casting his surroundings into a sharp relief. "T!" a feminine voice called out from behind him.

He slowly turned around, recognising who it was even before she called out to him. Closing his eyes initially, he reopened them to face a dark skinned girl with shoulder-length green hair and sharp red eyes. She held both of her guns in outstretched hands, both pointed directly at T's head.

"I have to say," she began, her face remaining a scowl the entire time. "-I never thought that it would come down to this. That little stunt you pulled set us back by months." She said as she was slowly being highlighted in gold in T's vision.

He said nothing in reply as he turned around to glance over the dozen White Fang foot soldiers in the way of him and his escape vehicle, highlighting each and every one of them with a red outline.

"Don't even think about it." The green-haired girl warned. "You've got nowhere left to run, outnumbered, and you're severely outgunned." She said with a smirk. "I thought you were supposed to be good with statistics." She taunted.

T slowly reached into the pocket of his trouser as he felt his Scroll and pressed a single button, but not before saying one last farewell.

"I'm never outgunned." He said as he opened his Scroll in his pocket, which activated the dorsal lights on the airship. This caused the girl and the other White Fang soldiers to cover their eyes to shield themselves from the sudden glare.

T quickly dropped to one knee as he pulled the Scroll out of his pocket and touched another command, which caused the forward machine guns of the Bullhead to start up and spray bullets all over the White Fang members. The roar of the guns warming up was enough for some of the White Fang members to duck down or jump to the side, while others reacted a second too slow. The girl had enough sense in her to jump out of the way as the bullets rained down on her position.

A second after she made the awkward dive to the side, T deactivated the machine guns to cross the few meters separating him and the airship, stepping on any White Fang goon what was still conscious, and some which were a little less than conscious. The door swung open as he approached, allowing him to quickly jump into the vehicle, swinging himself into the cockpit using the frame of the doorway.

He quickly climbed into the pilot's seat as he fired up the engines. He saw the goon with the rocket launcher stand back up and take aim, but before he could pull the trigger, T extended a pistol from his right arm and fired off a single shot at the rocket, inside the rocket launcher.

The explosion rocked the airship slightly, and spread fire across the docking bay. T pushed the engines to maximum power as he directed it out of the loading bay, the whole time Emerald fired her guns, ineffective against the hull of the Bullhead.

T wanted nothing more than to speed away and never look back on what had been done here, but there was something he needed to do. He turned the airship around as he began hovering around the largest of the factory buildings, where he started this.

Reaching for the command to fire the two missiles straight at the building, he found himself hesitating for a second before he gently pressed on the control to fire. His mind ran with calculations on the amount of damage and the chances that the woman hunting him would survive. They had to be high, he designed it that way. If he wanted to, he could have ended her right here and right now. It would have probably saved a lot of people, but she had someone that he needed alive.

He only stayed to watch for a few seconds before taking off at full speed, firing his cannons at one support pillar of the factory just to add to the destruction.

What he had started here...the horrors he had created, they needed to be undone. Though it won't be easy, T had a plan.

A very long…intricate…complicated plan that could - no, would - make enemies on both sides.

The worst part of it all was that he couldn't do it alone.


	2. Prologue 2

The Vindicator's Path

" _Revenge isn't a passion. It's a disease. It eats at your mind and poisons your soul."_ – A mentor

In life – everybody's life, there are certain moments that truly define who we are. Sometimes, there are many. Sometimes, there are only a few. And sometimes, just one. Those with only a few defining moments are often said to be touched by fate, and that those defining moments will touch many lives and bring change to the world. Although, sometimes, one can be far too much.

Stepping out of the matte-black car he had been in just moments ago, Tanner Vermillion took in a deep breath of the evening Atlas air.

It was cold, mechanical and smelled faintly of soot sometimes. But it was home.

He turned around as he heard one of the heavily-tinted windows winding down. He faced a grey-haired man, likely in his mid 40's, sitting in the driver's seat. He was wearing what would be considered casual wear, but was actually battle-ready attire that could withstand more than it seemed possible.

"You're heading back to Mistral now, aren't you?" Tanner muttered just loud enough for the man to hear, a hint of resentment in his voice.

"Don't mutter, kid. It makes you look like a shy schoolgirl." The man, Marcus Black, remarked instead of immediately replying. He chuckled to himself as Tanner turned away in slight embarrassment. "Yeah, job's finished. I figured I should retire early, so I'm gonna grab as much Mistralian liquor and booty as I can before I disappear."

Tanner laughed at the words of his now-former mentor. He wished that he could've stuck around to help with what was undoubtedly going to be a rough night, but a deal was a deal. "Goodbye, Marcus. And consider us even." Tanner said with a wave as he turned and head down the bright streets to his destination.

"Give them hell, kid. And we were always even!" he heard Marcus shout at him as the engines of the car revved up. "It's your father I owed!"

 _Ah, dad. Smart move getting all these people to owe you favours, now I can put them to good use._ He thought as the matte-black car sped down the other side of the road.

He clutched his black long-coat as close as he could to his chest in the frigid cold. Even with an orange undershirt made of high-quality cotton, and a pair of matching black slacks, he still shivered in the cold slightly.

He had never liked the cold.

That was where his scarf came in. It sported a dark-yellow colour with a crimson-red outline, and had been a gift made by both his father and mother. They had done the outline and body of the scarf, respectively. What made it so special was that his mother had a knack for imbuing weapons and clothing with Dust, and had carefully weaved Fire Dust into the scarf. This caused it to either emit a comfortable warmth when touched, or catch fire and be used as an amazingly effective torture weapon, when wielded properly.

He rubbed the end of the scarf in between two fingers, causing several hidden seams along the fabric to glow a faint orange, creating a gentle warmth as Tanner breathed out a puff of cold mist.

He was almost at his destination.

After quickly warming himself, he reached his hands under his long-coat to feel several black pouches he wore. Their weight in his hands gave him the reassurance he needed that he had brought enough firepower for today. And if he didn't...he could improvise.

At his slow, easy pace, Tanner eventually caught sight of his destination after roughly seven minutes of walking. Marcus had promised that he could get him close to the facility, but that he also wasn't going to risk getting too close.

The sun had long set behind the distant mountains, but the streets of Atlas were bright enough that it always seemed to be in sunset. Whether the light was provided by the grey and silver skyscrapers or the advanced holographic streetlights, the light they provided lit the vehicle repair workshop he was facing enough to make out every little detail.

Advancements in technology always seemed to work in slow motion for the outskirts of Atlas, the districts bereft of skyscrapers, unlike the inner and central sectors of the city. Instead, the streets were often surrounded on either side by identical-looking buildings, the only difference between the drab residential blocks being the small holographic addresses that gave them their individuality.

Walking down the streets of the more industrial-commercial district of the outer sector, he headed to what seemed like an equipment and vehicle repair store, though he knew better. Even if he hadn't made several prior visits to the building, Tanner could tell that it was one of the 'Four Corners' Mafia clan's repair and rearmaments facilities. The people that passed him along the streets gave him a mix of looks. Some gave him looks of curiosity, warning, fear, but most of the time, they didn't think twice about him, as people like him rolled by all the time. Good thing there weren't many people out tonight.

On his left, he wore a silver-coloured sabre-sword with an intricately carved handle that closely resembled the curved shape of the end of a walking stick. He didn't wear a scabbard, and instead let it hang by a leather loop in his belt. On his right, he wore a gold-coloured triple-barrel flintlock pistol with the intricate carving of a rose on its barrels. Beofield and Crossed Star; the mementos of his parents.

He ran his fingers through his dark-brown hair as he stopped in front of the glass double-doors that led into the front of the building. _Gotta look presentable._ He thought as he pushed the doors apart, and was immediately greeted with the warmth of the internal heating system of the building.

Stepping into the building, the doors swung closed while making the ringing sound of a small bell as he quickly took in his surroundings. Directly in front of him was a metal counter, where a customer was quietly waiting for the attendant to return from…whatever he was doing. Either side of the interior of the store had a metal rack lined with an assortment of weapons, meant to silently inform customers that if what they needed to be repaired was anything other than what was on display, they had better find another repair-shop.

On either side of the wall, separated by the counter that reached to either end of the wall, were bronze tubes that functioned as Dust dispensers, and were marked with different coloured lights depending on what kind of Dust they carried.

Walking up to the metal counter on the man's right side, he didn't even give the bystander a glance as he rested his elbows on the countertop.

"Excuse me, sir. I was here first." He said in an annoyed and warning tone.

 _Another one of those customers…right._ Tanner thought as he sighed. "You better leave while you still can." Tanner warned.

The man then shoved his hand in his pocket to pull out a handful of Lien before slamming it on the counter. "I was here first, so you'd better get behind me or-" he was cut off as the door to the back of the workshop opened and a bald man with a pale complexion walked through.

"Well you'll have to pay extra if you want a paintjob," the bald man said, carrying a folded cleaver-like weapon in his arms as he closed the door with his foot, not having noticed Tanner. "-but other than that, it should be good as n-" he froze when his eyes landed on Tanner.

The bald man looked like he was about to yell, a scowl forming on his face, but Tanner was faster and drew his flintlock to unload three shots into the man. Two pierced his Aura while the third pierced his skull. Blood and traces of brain-matter sprayed out of the back of his head as the bullet hit the wall behind the man.

Only then did Tanner turn to look at the customer, who now wore a terrified expression as the bald man collapsed to the floor. His eyes were wide and his hands were shaking as Tanner made his way through the counter doors. Picking up the folded weapon, he handed it to the shaking, horrified customer while pushing the Lien on the table back towards him.

"Take your weapon, take your money, and get out." Tanner warned through grit teeth, pointing his Crossed Star at the man's forehead. The man did so at a sprint as the door behind Tanner opened again. _Glad I didn't have to warn him a third time._

A tanned-skin man wearing a beanie stepped out of the door with his sub-machine gun drawn, only to be body-slammed into the wall of the store. Kicking the door closed with his foot, Tanner quickly stunned the man with the door's force while drawing out Beofield. Holding it in his right hand, he quickly pierced it through the man's throat as he was about to yell for help. The man choked and spluttered while blood dripped down the wound in his neck as Tanner pushed Beofield as far back as he could before he felt it press against the plaster walls.

The sabre almost flew from his grasp at the speed he pulled it out of the man's neck, blood spurting from the man's artery as it did. Tanner quickly wiped the blood off the sword on the dead man's shirt as the corpse slid to the floor before he turned his attention on the door that led to the back of the workshop, and to the garage-section.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he felt a surge of Aura run through his left arm and flow into the flintlock pistol he still held. He concentrated on the three remaining shots inside of it, felt the carefully cut Dust crystals and their resonating glow. Then, he activated his Semblance.

When he opened his eyes, he quickly swung himself over the counter-top and took cover behind it as he fired off a single shot at the door.

The shot he fired was a Fire Dust pellet, but after having used his Semblance, Dust Ministration, the explosion it created was easily three times the size of a regular Dust crystal of the same size. The door flew off its hinges as it splintered into multiple shards, before those shards of wood burnt to ash.

Immediately following the explosion, a wide spray of bullets came through the doorway in an attempt to hit whoever blew the door apart as the smoke and dust settled.

Waiting for a few seconds for them to run their guns dry, Tanner quickly stuck Crossed Star over the top of the counter to fire a single shot through the doorway, aimed roughly at the ground. As soon as he fired the shot, he jumped over the counter-top with the intention of following the blue pellet.

The men on the other side of the doorway resumed firing as soon as they saw him, but their bullets were blocked as a five-feet tall wall of ice rose out of the spot where the shot had landed. Taking cover behind the wall of ice, Tanner quickly reloaded his pistol as the barrel separated from the rest of the gun on a rotating pivot, sliding two spherical Dust Crystals into each of the three barrels of the gun, aside from the one with a remaining pellet.

 _Should've done this before I jumped into the line of fire._ He thought as he quickly took in his surroundings. He was now in the vehicle repair bay, which could only be accessed through either the doorway he came through, or a garage door off to the side which was large enough for a bullhead to fly into. Industrial-grade repair equipment and machinery were placed and bolted to the ground in several different locations.

The wall of ice that protected him was slowly being chipped away as the gunmen switched to Fire Dust bullets, which not only cut straight through the wall, but also broke off large chunks of the edges of the wall.

Tanner peered around the side of the wall quickly to get an idea of what he was facing. He was able to make out at least a dozen armed men taking cover behind several unfinished vehicle frames, with some wielding pistols, while others wielded various sub-machine gun and tommy-gun models. He even saw two carrying flamethrowers.

 _Wait…flamethrowers?_ He thought as he heard the distinct – and approaching – roar of a flame. He quickly got back to his feet and sprinted behind a truck under repair as his ice wall shattered into a spray of melting shards.

"It's the Vermillion kid!" he heard one of the goons shout. "Get the boss, she'll want to see this!"

"Come on out, kid." He heard another man speak directly to him. The voice was slightly muffled, as if they were wearing a mask. Using the reflective glare of his sword to look around the corner, Tanner saw one of the men with a flamethrower slowly approaching him. "You've got nowhere left to run."

How many times had he heard that threat? It must have been a lot, because he started chuckling once it registered in his mind. He could see from the reflection of the pyro that he abruptly stopped as soon as Tanner started laughing.

"I'm not running, anymore!" he yelled as he turned around the corner. The pyro raised the end of his flamethrower to quickly turn Tanner into a kebab, but the brunette was faster. Raising his left hand, flintlock still in his grasp, he focussed on channelling his Aura through the outstretched appendage and out the barrels of the pistol. Using his Semblance, he felt the presence of the Fire Dust in the tank on the pyro's back, all in less than half a second.

In another half a second, he focussed on pulsing his Aura through the Fire Dust, causing it to spontaneously combust and incinerate the pyro. His fireproof clothing may have protected him from the flames, but not from the sheer force of the explosion.

The others behind the pyromaniac opened up with their guns as soon as he exploded, but Tanner quickly dived off to the side while focussing on extending his Aura further. It made his mind blurry and his legs weak, but the spontaneous combustion of the second pyro was worth it.

The explosive force of the blast was enough to knock most of the gunmen to the floor, while others were just staggered by the sheer force of the explosion. Tanner then took the opportunity to transform his sabre, morphing it into a silver double-barrelled flintlock pistol, closely resembling Crossed Star.

From his prone position on the ground, he emptied every shot he had into the mafia men until none of them were breathing. Once he was sure none of them were going to get up, he quickly sprung to his feet and dusted his long coat off.

 _More reinforcements will be coming soon, so I better hurry._ He thought as he took some of the clips of ammunition from the dead bodies of the men that he once ordered about. Looking at the faces of the dead, he could even remember the names that went with a couple of them.

He quickly began thinking about the checklist he had created before he embarked on this 'heist', for lack of a better word. _Ok, step one: clear out the building. Step two:…_ he thought as he made his way to a set of stairs that took him to the second floor of the building. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, a bullet flew by and nearly pierced his head.

He turned to see a lone gunmen crouching in the hallway, which he quickly took care of with two well-placed shots. Walking down the hallway, he turned to face a door with a red sign that read 'Employees Only'. The brunette smirked as he knew that he was at the right place. Pushing the door open, he walked into a room with several differently labelled crates on one side, and a stash of weapons on the other. He walked through the room while kicking open any crate he walked by, quickly inspecting its contents as he grabbed the first one, a ton of Lightning Dust, as he carried it down the steps and hefting it into one of the working trucks.

He continued this sequence for two more crates before he started to tire and had to drag the fourth crate down the steps, which was when he stopped by the doorway as he looked to see a group of men with a woman standing by the truck. The men all stood with their swords, clubs and hammers ready to deliver a painful bludgeoning, while the woman stood at their front.

"I leave for a ten minute coffee break," the woman started slowly, she was wearing a hunter-green unzipped hoodie, a pair of shorts that barely did anything to cover her long, well-toned legs and had a twin-blade strapped to her back, reaching from her head to her toes. "And you show up and wreck my perfectly good store."

"Come on, Nessi. We both know that this place is anything but good." Tanner replied to the ebony-haired girl, with a slight green tint at the ends of her short-cut hair.

"Quite. You know you grandfathers will be very pleased to see you again." She said as she ran her fingers along the edge of the truck. "As well as find out that you're the one responsible for all those thefts."

"You'll have to catch me first." He said as he drew Beofield and transformed it to its sword form.

The woman sighed. "You never make this easy." She turned to one of the men at her side. "Sick 'im."

All six of the armed men immediately rushed the brunette as he prepared his battle-stance, pistol in one hand with sabre in the other. The first man to rush him wielded a long sledgehammer, which he easily ducked under before slashing at him with his sword. Another man holding a club tried to smash him in the back while he was distracted, but Tanner took quick notice of him and fired off two shots from his pistol into the man. He continued to parry and deflect his opponents before he began to realise that they were more skilled than he thought.

While ducking under a horizontal swing from another sledgehammer, he cartwheeled away before he stuck a hand in his pouch as he righted himself.

Pulling out a chunk of pure Lightning Dust, he aimed it in his closed fist at three of the four remaining men that charged him. Focussing on the crystal and his enemies, he pulled his hand back before thrusting it forward; unleashing a wide streak of lightning that electrocuted all three men at once.

Opening his hand, he found the crystal had disintegrated in the process, but it worked just as well as the last swordsmen charged forward. With his free hand, he reached into his pouch again and pulled out a vial of Ice Dust. Cracking the vial with the pommel of his sword, he shook some of the fine powder towards the man and onto his sword. This caused the air in front of him to emit a faint blue energy as he slammed the sword into the ground, causing large icicles to sprout towards the swordsman and the woman.

The woman was able to dodge the attack in time, but the swordsman wasn't so lucky. In a few seconds, he had more than a few more holes in his body than he did seconds ago.

"Why do I have to do everything myself?" the woman, Vanessa, grumbled to herself as she drew her twin-blade in both hands.

 _Let's see if this actually works_ , the brunette thought as he flicked his sabre to his side while pulling back the pistol hammer on the hilt, setting up for one final trick. Pressing the trigger on the opposite side of the hilt, he activated one of the Dust pellets still in his sword, causing his whole sword to spark with electricity.

Vanessa held her weapon to her side before charging forward, unfazed by the display. Her movements were quick and fluid as she assaulted Tanner with a flurry of strikes, rebounding directly after one strike with the backwards motion of the blades colliding against one another.

Tanner was stuck on the defensive for a few seconds before he saw an opening. With his sabre sparking with electricity, he had the advantage of more powerful swings. Though, he knew that it wouldn't last for very long.

He was able to get a few slashes in by batting the blades of the twin-blade in one direction, before slashing at the opening. The lightning effect of the Dust was working as Vanessa's movements became less fluid and more stuttered, but he let his confidence get the best of him.

For the most part, she wasn't actually faking the pain. However, when she did feign to the left, Tanner decided to go for the opening which was immediately countered, causing him to lose hold of his sword as it was twisted out of his hand.

Thinking quickly, he used his free right hand to draw his pistol and put it to the woman's exposed chest. Her eyes widened and a smirk grew on Tanner's face…until they both heard the dry click of the gun.

They were both equally stunned for a moment as Tanner pulled the trigger two more times, only to give two more dry clicks.

"Son of a-" the wind was knocked out of him before he could get the rest out, and he was kicked on his back.

Pressing the blade up against his neck, Vanessa's whole body shook from the electric shocks and heavy breathing. "Any…last words?"

Tanner swallowed quickly to quench the dry feeling in his throat, which he cleared by clearing his throat. _Uh…any last words…um, let's see._ He said as he flexed his empty hands.

Only…one of them wasn't empty.

A wide grin spread across his face as he remembered what it was, causing Vanessa to develop a confused expression. "Yeah, catch!" he said as he tossed the cracked vial of Ice Dust directly at the woman's face.

With a little Aura behind the throw, the glass vial shattered and the Ice Dust exploded at the same time.

The blast of the explosion was enough to throw Vanessa straight into the wall of the building as a layer of ice formed around her face and shoulder, pinning her to the wall.

Rolling onto his side and getting up at a leisurely pace, Tanner whistled a tune to himself as he picked up the discarded twin-blade and sauntered over to the now-frightened woman.

She struggled with all her might, even clawing at the ice, but it was no use as Tanner drew the sword back…

…and stuck it into the wall, inches from her face.

She stared, wide-eyed at Tanner as her chest heaved up and down. "Y-you're not going to kill me?"

The brunette put a hand to her cheek as he spoke. "C'mon, Nessi. We're friends. I'm not going to kill you." In a sudden motion, he grabbed her free hand and pushed it against the wall with him, leaning in close to whisper directly into her ear. "I'm just going to make your life a living hell if you keep working for my grandfathers, ok?"

With a friendly peck on the cheek, he backed away to retrieve his sword and pistol - the sword no longer sparking. "Give them my love, and a message." He said with his back turned to her. "Tell them that Tanner Vermillion did this, and that they should take this as an act of war." He said as he moved back over to the last crate of Dust he was willing to steal and pulled out a couple of canisters of Fire Dust.

Popping both lids, he began sprinkling it about the entire room, not responding once to anything Vanessa had to say.

"I do hope you get out before you burn too badly." He said offhandedly, not looking at the black-haired woman directly as he shoved the last crate into the truck and pulled down the shutters. He quickly hopped into the driver's seat of the truck as he fished around for the keys, igniting the engine in one smooth movement.

And with the snap of his fingers, the whole building suddenly became a lot hotter.


	3. Prologue 3

The Scarred Path

" _Our wounds are our sources of Growth." – A Herald_

One of Man's greatest strengths is the ability to heal its wounds. Only…this skill of regeneration is too often taken for granted. What is also often overlooked is that this ability is also quite symbolic, as no matter how many times they're knocked down, they heal and get back up.

The dark underground arena was cast in a multitude of shadows from the limited light offered by the two large torches on either end. The walls, floor and ceiling of the arena were all made of a tough stone, with the carving of a sword in a flame etched into the floor. Though, from the darkness, a figure could be made out, kneeling in the centre of the arena, right on the cross-guard of the sword.

Suddenly four more torches burst into flames, banishing the darkness and replacing it with light. In the low orange glow of the flames, the figure was more easily visible.

Remaining in his crouched position, he wore a face scarf around his neck, which was pulled down at the moment to reveal his matte-black mop of hair. He wore a pair of glasses with a metal frame, which had an interior that seemed to glow white in the faint light.

Over his body, he wore a dusty-brown short-sleeved shirt and a pauldron that connected with a sheath on his back. In the sheath was a scimitar with a copper hilt, slightly dirtied from use. Covering his legs were a pair of three-quarter black trousers that reached down to his shins. Over the trousers his legs were covered in steel paddings and guards, finished off with a pair of black, leather, steel-reinforced boots that reached up to the ends of his pants.

The figure took in one deep breath as the last of the torches were lit. _I can do this…I can do this…I can do this…_

"Sze Khun Esinti," a voice commanded. "Are you ready for the trials?"

Sze Khun looked up to see the large man he was kneeling in front of. More than five metres away from him, standing behind a podium on a raised platform was a well-toned man in metal leggings with chainmail over his bare chest. Even with the distance between them, Sze Khun still felt the same sense of danger whenever he was in the man's presence.

It was a feeling of incredible expectations from the man, expectations that he would suffer for if they weren't met.

"Yes." He said loud enough for the sound to be echoed through the entire chamber. Then, three seconds of silence passed before the sound of gears turning and grinding metal broke it. It was the black-haired boys signal to rise from his crouched position and draw his weapon. The scimitar, Yakmak, glowed a faint shade of amber in the light of the flames as he held it out to his side. Upon opening his eyes, they were revealed to be a bronze-colour, like a smothered flame that refused to go out.

Turning around, he faced a metal gate that was slowly being retracted into the ceiling as a large, shirtless man with a horned helmet and a two-metre long greataxe. The man was dragging his weapon against the ground, causing sparks to fly as he made his way over to Sze Khun, only to stop six feet away.

They both stood in battle stances as they waited for the order to fight. Sze Khun had the advantage of visibility as his glasses highlighted his opponent, standing a foot taller than him. They also served to increase the brightness of the room around him, adjusting so that he viewed the world with a different frequency of light.

"Begin!" the deep voice echoed out as the axe-wielder moved in for a devastating overhead smash. The impact of the axe didn't even crack the stone floor as Sze Khun quickly skirted around his opponent before taking two quick slices at him with his scimitar. The blade cut into the man's Aura as he swung his axe again to bat away the scimitar.

Sze Khun continued to riposte and parry the heavy strikes for a few seconds before he found himself backpedalling to get out of range of another overhead smash. He then used his the size of the weapon and his speed to his advantage as he ran up the handle of the greataxe to perform a leap attack. However, instead of driving his sword through the man, Sze Khun instead used the man's body as a pivot to create a long gash across his upper torso that his Aura absorbed.

The large axe-wielder staggered slightly from the blow, but so did Sze Khun as he landed with the wrong foot and almost tripped over himself. A cold sweat flashed over him as he worried whether or not his mentor had seen it or not, paralyzing him temporarily as he thought whether to look at him to check, or whether it would give away that he didn't mean to.

He didn't have any time to come to a decision as he heard the sound of gears turning and metal clamping together as the axe-wielder had transformed his greataxe into a portable mortar cannon.

He fired a salvo of three shots at roughly where Sze Khun was supposed to be. Again, the floor showed no cracks or damage, aside from a few scorch marks as smoke and dust was kicked up into the air by the blasts.

All three shots had missed, though.

When the dust settled, the black-haired boy was nowhere to be seen. The axe-wielder turned his head left and right in search of his opponent, but could not see him anywhere in the arena.

Quickly reloading his mortar, he fired off another salvo of three shots in every direction around him, only to be surprised by a kick to the back of one of his legs, causing him to fall to one knee. Sze Khun then reappeared out of thin air and began quickly slashing away at the man as he attempted to block the strikes with his cannon, only to have it knocked out of his hands with an uppercut-swing.

He was then kicked onto his back by a well-placed boot to his face as Sze Khun quickly put the scimitar to his neck.

There was a moment when Sze Khun actually considered plunging the sword into the man's neck simply because he was his opponent, but it never manifested itself more than just a thought in his mind. Offering a hand to the axe-wielder, he hoisted him onto his feet with great effort as he turned to face his mentor.

"I'm ready for the next trial!" he declared, with a deep sense of confidence as the axe wielder made his way out of the arena and through the gateway. His mentor stood perfectly still for a few moments, giving Sze Khun the unshakable feeling that he was being scrutinized and judged just by his choice of phrasing the declaration, but the feeling subsided once the figure raised his right hand, and the sound of more footsteps could be heard getting closer from the gateway to the arena.

What worried Sze Khun at this point was that there were more than one set of footsteps headed his way, his confidence from the earlier fight dropping instantly. He could take on any opponent, he was sure of that. However, more than one opponent at a time?

In no time at all, he was flanked on all sides by three men, each wearing the same outfits but carrying a different weapon.

All wore various arrangements of body armour under a poncho made from a fine, bright-red silk that covered their upper body, as well as helmets in the shape of the sun. One carried a pair of twisted swords while another carried a long halberd, while the last carried a large sickle in one hand.

Sze Khun slowly span in a circle where he stood, scimitar held up in a defensive stance as he kept a close eye on each on them so that he wasn't taken off guard.

"Hesitation is an asset that only you can give to your opponent." His mentor remarked as neither side made a move. Though it would sound like advice to anyone else, Sze Khun knew what it actually was; a warning.

A warning that he wasn't acting upon what his training had taught him. A warning that if his mentor wanted to, he could end the trials right now and declare him unworthy amongst the Desert Raiders.

A second after the remark had been made, Sze Khun brought his weapon down on the man wielding the two crooked swords.

He was able to break the man's guard relatively quickly, but it left him vulnerable to the other two, which they were taking full advantage of as they both engaged him at once. He was able to parry the halberd to the side, and just barely ducked underneath the horizontal slash of the sickle. Losing his balance during the duck, he vanished again and carefully weaved in between his opponents as he rolled right behind the one wielding the dual swords, as he seemed the easiest to defeat out of the others.

"The shadows will only be your ally if you can maintain their silence." The voice of his mentor rang out, telling him all he needed to know and more.

They knew where he was.

He had fallen for their trick as just as he was about to attack the duellist in the back, he spun around and met Yakmak with both of his swords.

Sze Khun then became visible again as he was caught off guard at being found so easily. _Was I that noisy? Or was the attack too predictable._ He wondered as he pushed back against the dual swords with both hands. He placed one on the flat side of his blade for better leverage before he quickly glanced behind him to see the sickle-wielder approaching and rearing up for an attack.

"Do not fight a battle worth less than the fight itself." His mentor warned again. Sze Khun was sick and tired of the warnings and scolding, but they were what pushed him to do better.

Kicking out at one of the duellist's legs, he was able to break the weapon lock and turn to meet the sickle before it stabbed into him. Unfortunately, that left him completely vulnerable to the halberd, which stabbed him in the side and sent him skidding across the floor.

He quickly regained his composure and decided to use his trump-card. Twisting a knob on the hilt of his scimitar, he caused the blade to split apart, revealing a focussing lens connected to a laser emitter.

He then trained it on the closest of the three opponents and fired a red beam of superheated gas at the man, who didn't have time to raise his sickle to protect himself from the blast and was knocked to the ground by it. The black-haired swordsman then fired at the duellist, knocking him back a couple feet because he was able to raise both swords in a cross to block the laser beam.

He didn't have enough time to aim and fire at the halberd-wielder, so instead used Yakmak, still in its beam-gun form, to parry an overhead-diagonal attack. Knocking the halberd into the ground, he twisted the knob on the handle once more and exchanged blows with his opponent.

He wasn't able to gain enough ground in time because of the halberd's reach, and soon had to deal with the duellist at the same time. He had to spin on his spot constantly as he struggled to deflect both weapons at the same time, getting cut and hit more than once as he did. Eventually his opportunity came when the sickle-wielder leapt in a wide arc over the halberd-wielder, causing him to dash to the side to avoid being hit.

Rolling to the side to avoid the strike, Sze Khun turned invisible once again, but didn't remain quiet for very long. He was able to get under the duellist's guard less than three seconds after he had turned invisible, and was able to disarm him of one of his swords by sticking his scimitar under the man's guard and flicking the weapon out of his grasp, all the while grappling for the other with his free hand. Focussing on maintaining his invisibility, he delivered a deadly barrage of attacks as he focussed on the one target before him, and nothing else.

That was his last mistake.

With a powerful sweep-kick, he was able to topple the swordsman before him and was ready to disarm him of his second weapon, when a sickle hooked around his mid-section and pulled him away. His Aura dropped significantly as it protected him from the hook-shaped blade, giving him no time to turn invisible as he tumbled right into the halberd-wielder. It was now his turn to go on the defensive as he was continuously assaulted by the barrage of blades. Sparks flew in every direction around Sze Khun as he tried to switch Yakmak's beam-gun form to fire off beams of energy at point-blank range at his opponents.

He executed the form perfectly, but they reacted too quickly and were able to deflect and block the beams. They had him on the run.

Eventually, the duellist re-joined the battle – albeit with one sword – and Sze Khun was surrounded on all sides. He parried the halberd away before quickly turning to block a stab from the duellist, leaving him wide open to the sickle-wielder. Locking the hook of the weapon around Sze Khun's arm, his opponent pulled back on the weapon, causing him to lose his grip on the scimitar as he was not prepared for the sudden motion.

He stared in shock as the sword clattered to the floor, as he knew what it meant.

He had failed the trials.

His attention was drawn back to the halberd-wielder by the sound of metal scraping against stone, to see the man spinning the weapon around for another attack. _But the trials are over!_

Instinctively, Sze Khun raised his left arm to block the weapon, resulting in a deep gash across his left wrist. The slash also sent Sze Khun tumbling to the floor on his back as his opponents all aimed their weapons at him, as if to finish him as he cradled his wounded arm close to his chest.

"Stop!" he heard his mentor shout. Just like that, all his opponents seemed to freeze as if they had been turned to stone. He took the momentary reprieve to tap the side of his glasses with his good hand to see his opponent's Aura readings. They all appeared on the glass, as well as the time and the outside temperature, though that wasn't very relevant.

He was shocked to see that they were all still well over 40% while his was none-existent but slowly increasing.

 _Then why am I still bleeding?_ He thought as his opponents took a few steps back and stood at attention. Sze Khun scrambled onto his knees in haste as he realised that his mentor was approaching them now. He bowed his head as low as he could, out of both shame and respect.

His mentor didn't stop until he was more or less one foot from him. He still clutched his wound in his good hand as he looked up at his mentor, breath still heavy from the fight.

"Why do you not kneel properly?" his mentor asked in a hushed, yet stern voice. Sze Khun knew this was coming, but he had hoped that if he kept quiet that his mentor would simply forget about it. _Of course he wouldn't._ Sze Khun slowly fell forward on his hands and knees, the sharp pain of the wound on his wrist stinging as he fell on his palm.

His mind raced with things that he could say to resolve his failure, or at least reduce the pain of it. He honestly had no idea what his mentor had in store if he failed; he had always only thought of success. "Mentor, please forgive me. If I retake the trials-"

"Then you will fail again." His mentor cut him off in a stern tone. That was also his cue to not speak as his mentor would list off his failures. "Your first mistake was not initiating the fight; you gave your opponents time to assess your strengths and weaknesses. You second was not fully utilising your abilities; I saw more than half a dozen opportunities that you did not take, so either you did not see them either, or you were too lazy to take them."

Sze Khun was baffled at how he was able to pick out so many flaws in his fight. In his own opinion, he fought as well as he could. But, he was obviously wrong. "Your third failure was not keeping each of your opponents in mind; you shut off every other opponent but the one you are fighting!" his mentor shook his head. "No, you are clearly not ready to join our ranks. Especially since you have seemed to have forgotten my words on not raising your bare arm to block an attack; it will not save you!"

"Father, please I-"

"I will not have my own blood beg for mercy!" he suddenly shouted, cutting off whatever Sze Khun had to ask. Sze Khun was worried that he would have him executed right there, but his mentor – his father – seemed to calm down after that. "However, you fought exceptionally in the first trial." A spark of hope re-emerged in his mind. "How unfortunate that it was only the first of six trials." A spark that was immediately smothered. "Because of this, I will allow you to leave with your weapon, and with your life, nothing more. You are henceforth banished from this sanctum and from Vacuo. Should you ever set foot on our soil again, and I will see to it that you are executed where you stand."

His mind and heart froze at the words. _B-banished from Vacuo? This can't be happening._ Vacuo was his home, it was all that he had – this life was all that he had. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. He could only stare hopelessly at his father's cold, unwavering gaze as his wrist continued to bleed on the floor.

"Leave now, before I resent this grace." He warned through grit teeth. "The Desert Raiders shall no longer watch over you."

Sze Khun slowly rose to his feet and gave his mentor a final bow before he moved to retrieve his weapon. He had long ago learned to shed no tears and instead let the pain swell within him. Sheathing Yakmak onto the scabbard on his back, he looked in between his former opponents, who stood at attention by the entryway out of the arena before bowing to them. Despite having humiliated him in front of his own father and having him banished from his own home country, he knew that they were only doing what they were tasked with, as well as the fact that they were great warriors who deserved this respect. Stopping by the dark entryway, Sze Khun could see faintly glowing torches further down the path he now had to take. However, he paused to turn around and see his father continue to glare at him, urging him to leave before he embarrassed himself again.

"Farewell, father." He muttered before pulling the cowl he wore over his head and drawing the face-scarf over his nose. On the back of the scarf, covering his head, was the pattern of a yellow flame with a sword piercing through its centre.

The symbol of his family; the symbol of the Desert Raiders.

He didn't deserve to wear that symbol. _I have failed, and now I must live with the failure._

He had walked into the arena with his head held high, but now he wished that they had just left him headless. At least that way, he could think that he had died with honour.


	4. Prologue 4

Path of The Maniac

 **Warning: This chapter is rated 'D' for Deadpool-ism. Expect more crack out of this character than any others.**

" _And in the end…killing is all that matters." – A Harbinger._

There comes a time in most people's life, when they are surrounded by insurmountable odds, and still remain defiant until their last breath, even if the outcome had already been decided. For a certain redhead, this was still not that day.

Despite being bound in steel handcuffs, chains and even a muzzle over his mouth, Mason would still be able to bring the roof down on everyone in the compound he was in if he wanted to. Unfortunately, the men that had imprisoned him had kept his weapons somewhere else, and Mason was too lazy to give a shit.

He wore brown leather armour and paddings lined with lead, with rubber boots and a pair of blood-stained fingerless gloves to cover his pasty-white skin. His hair was a frizzy afro that stood almost two feet in height, but was too heavy for its own weight and sagged.

They were walking along a white-washed concrete hallway-with lights embedded into the walls themselves-that was at least twelve storeys below sea level, with at least ten dozen armed guards between him and the only exit to the base.

 _That's what I get for infiltrating their maximum-security underground lizard base, I guess._

They all wore the same exact grey and white body armour and carried the same exact laser rifles and sidearms. _Th_ _ese fucking noobs spammers, using the same damn weapons._

When they reached the end of the really boring and dull hallway, they entered a large hexagonal chamber with bright flare lights shining down from the ceiling which was at least ten metres high. At the opposite end of the chamber was another door where several more armed men were pointing their guns at Mason, while a man clad in grey robes wearing a smooth, polished helmet stood in the centre of the chamber. The helmets itself was also quite boring and… clean. _No blood, no blast marks…nothing_ _? Booriinngg_

Squinting at the reflective glare of the helmet, Mason could clearly see a white triangle stretching all along the fishbowl of a helmet. _Illuminati confirmed._

Mason's focus on the helmet was broken, but that kind of thing happens when you're shoved to the floor on your elbows. The cloaked and helmeted figure approached his prostrated form and kneeled on one leg to get a better angle.

"Look how big you've grown, little cub." It said in a very robotic voice.

"Do I know you, faggot?" Mason asked, receiving a bash over the head by one of the guards.

The figure then rose to his feet and began pacing around Mason. "I wouldn't have expected you to, but I remember you." He then leaned closer to whisper something into Mason's ear. "I remember what your parents and your clan did. Not just to us, but to the world." He paused to chuckle to himself. "I especially remembered their last screams before they died."

Mason merely shrugged. "Eh, noobs get rekt."

"So I've heard." He said as he slowly paced in a semi –circle until he was standing in front of the downed redhead. "Yet here you kneel, in one of our greatest strongholds." He said, raising his arms to either side. "No one has gotten as far as you before, but you will face the judgement of the United Coalition just like every other before you."

After that, the sound of speakers coming to life rang out through the hexagonal, whitewash chamber. "M…Mason Mars," the masculine voice on the other end of the channel was able to get out between static. "-you stand accused of the crimes of man slaughter, attempted regicide, mass murder, arson, terrorism, attempted destruction of an entire town-"

"Successful destruction of an entire town's population." Mason corrected.

A feminine voice chuckled over the speakers overhead. "No, attempted. You missed a couple of people."

"Dammit!" Mason shouted, getting another bash over his head.

"-crimes against the Coalition, cannibalism, attempted genocide, torture, inhumane assault and desecration of the dead." The male voice continued and finished.

"How do you plead?" the helmeted figure asked as he lifted Mason's face by his chin.

"I'd ten out of ten tap that corpse again." He said with a cocky grin, causing Mr Illuminati to lash out and slap him across the face.

"Patience, Phillips." The male voice over the intercom said calmly. "If the accused has nothing to say in his defence, then the final decision is ours." There was a pause as some of the flare lights in the chamber began to switch off, leaving only the central light to focus on Mason and the figure known as Phillips. "We have found the accused to be guilty. The punishment is to be death by Grimm."

At the decree, several of the grey guards began to slowly back out of the room through the two chamber entrances. Three by three they slowly left the room until Mason, Phillips, and two other guards were the only ones left. It was then that Phillips mechanically reached into his robes and pulled out a pair of weapons.

One was a war axe with a brown, rusted hilt and silver blades, with the fore blade being larger and longer than the hind one, with a curved design like a straight hook. The other weapon was a shortsword with a brown wood and leather hilt with a crimson-red blade. Both weapons bore the symbol of a horned skull with large fangs where the blades met the hilt. "These are the symbols of your God, am I correct?" Phillips asked as he held the symbols close to Mason's face.

 _There are my babies._ "Why don't yo me and find out, scrub?" Mason taunted as Phillips adjusted the grip on the shortsword like he was going to plunge it into the redhead, but instead stabbed the sword into the ground near him, lodging it in place with inhuman strength.

"Today, your Evil God dies with you." He said as he threw the axe in a horizontal swipe, lodging it into one side of the six-sided chamber. After that, Phillips gestured for his two escorts to follow out of the chamber. That left Mason alone, hands bound behind his back with a muzzle over his face, left to die as the walls around him slowly retracted to reveal several sets of glowing red eyes.

Or…y'know. So they thought.

As the first Beowulf jumped forward to tear Mason apart, he stood up and turned his back to it while raising his hands to where the swipe was going to land.

As it would be, the Beowulf's leap attack placed just a few centimetres from the centre of the heavy shackles that bound him, catching him in the upper wrist slightly.

With his hands now free, he reached for his shortsword, Fuil, with his left hand while reaching for the muzzle over his mouth with his right. As he did so, he span in a clockwise motion on one foot so that by the time the muzzle was removed and the sword was dislodged, Mason was in the perfect position to stab his sword straight through the Beowulf's lower jaw. The end of the sword jutted out from the top of the creatures head as Mason kicked the corpse off his weapon and examined the surroundings.

Even in the limited light, he could still clearly see all the 'casual' Grimm surrounding him. "Let's get some dubstep in here!" he shouted as he transformed Fuil with the flick of his wrist into a heavy slug pistol, the blade folding in on itself while the hilt segmented and bent to form the handle. He aimed it at the last remaining flare light and pulled on the trigger, but nothing happened.

He tried again as the Grimm continued to circle around him, before he realised that the Illuminati had taken all of the ammo out of his gun.

"Fine. Close quarter quick-scoping it is." He grumbled as he transformed the slug pistol back into a shortsword and swung it at a Creep who had the balls to try to attack him while he was getting his MLG on.

From that point, he focussed all of his energy into becoming a whirlwind of death as he made his way to his axe, Bas. When he was close enough, he grabbed the handle of the axe with his right hand while driving the Fuil into the throat of another Beowulf that got too close. He was about to yank the axe out and deal a brutal finishing decapitation, but found that the blade was lodged deeper than he originally thought.

After several failed attempts, he eventually had to use both hands and brace one foot against the wall to dislodge it, completely forgetting about his shortsword as the Grimm it was lodged in tumbled to the ground in a dead heap.

Fortunately, the force he used to pull out the axe was enough to throw him back into an Ursa. He tumbled backwards in a spin, but it worked to his advantage as he hooked the blade of Bas around the Ursa's neck.

The large Ursa tried to throw Mason off its back several times as he pulled back harder on the blade, breaking the tough skin of its neck. In a last ditch attempt, the Ursa made a charge for one of the doors to the chamber (as the walls had retracted) and tried to shake him off with the force of the impact.

All it did, however, was leave a dent in the door and gave Mason the backward-force necessary to drag the blade straight through the creature's neck. Thrown back once again, Mason got an idea from it as he found and reclaimed his shortsword.

As soon as he got back to his feet, he ducked, weaved and hacked his way to the nearest Ursa. He approached it slowly, waiting for it to strike first.

"Come on. Attack already so I can kill you!" he muttered to himself as he stared it down while using his peripheral vision to bat away several Creeps. The Ursa let out a loud roar as it raised a paw to crush him, only for Mason to dodge the heavy attack and climb up the paw to mount the Ursa. Stabbing Fuil into its back while digging Bas into it's shoulder, he directed it towards the door and spurred it as if it were a horse.

"Giddy up!" he cheered as it stumbled forward rather fast towards the door from the pain. He then braced himself for what was to come next, as more Beowulves jumped on the Ursa as well to try to kill Mason.

The Ursa tackled straight into the door, but it only served to make a larger dent and throw the Beowulves off its back. Mason yanked back on the sword, causing it to jolt backwards before pushing the sword forwards and forcing it into the door again and again long after the mask protecting its face had shattered.

"Come. On. You. Son. Of. A. B-" suddenly, the metal bent outwards and both Mason and the Ursa were thrown out into another whitewash hallway. However, this time the guards were ready and had their weapons trained right where Mason was still mounted to the downed Ursa.

"Open fire!" Phillips shouted from behind them as they let loose a spray of bullets. The issue was that they had to target the Grimm while also targeting Mason, giving the redhead more than enough time to dislodge his weapons from the disintegrating corpse and deflect several shots while just absorbing the others as well as move to the side to let the Grimm spill through.

A thick smokescreen had formed because of all the Grimm dying around him as well as the evaporating metal around him the shots that missed him and hit the walls and floor. Then, suddenly, the shooting stopped and the Grimm had all died. All that could be heard was the near-soundless smoke drifting up into the air.

 _Big mistake, scrubs._ Mason thought as he charged forward with a burst of speed towards the enemies, a sickening war cry leaving his lips as he did. They immediately resumed fire on his form as he plummeted towards them.

In the span of two seconds, he was able to clear the distance to the lines of guards and tackled the closest one he could to the ground. As soon as he knew where the ground was, he got up to straddle the man and began carving a niche out of his chest with Baz. He then got back to his feet as one of them tried to bring a machete down on his head, blocking it easily with Fuil. He then used the opening to drive his war axe into the man…sorry, woman's chest twice, only breaking through the Aura after the second swipe.

Mason felt his semblance activating, as a blood red glow began to surround him. He yanked Bas out of the woman, as he swung it around with into a soldier's neck like a flash of lightning. The glow became brighter as he threw Fuil behind him, straight into a soldier's kidney before kicking him in the groin, propelling him into the air where Mason pulled Fuil out of him, in midair, bringing the blade down and up. One of the other guards clutched his throat as time seemed to have paused and now resumed for him, helpless as he slowly bled out from the large vertical slash along his throat. Mason's semblance went into overdrive, all the blood fuelling his hunger for more. As the Bloodfuel set in, his vision darkened, and the blood red glow increased, so much so that it almost looked like he was sweating blood. Although, that maay have just been from all the dismembered body parts as the Bloodfuel made him strike incredibly fast, almost leaving afterimages of himself as he went from one guard to the next. None of them even had the chance to cry out in pain.

Not that it would have mattered.

Within just half a minute, the whole contingent of guards were officially and quite permanently…reassigned to dismembered limbs and pools of blood. Mason leant down and deeply inhaled the blood from a vertical slash along a neck that was attached to a face with an expression of abject fear and bewilderment.

Licking his lips, Mason stared down Phillips, who hadn't done anything the entire time and was now walking away down the hallways.

Mason charged to follow, but a pair of rockets that had come from the end of the hallway stopped him as he was thrown off his feet by the explosions. Sitting up, he saw two guards carrying double-barrelled rocket launcher walking past the robbed figure and taking up places on either side of the hallway, followed closely by two more battalions.

Mason had to move quickly to loot one of the corpses around him for a magazine that he slipped into the hilt of Fuil, transforming it into its slug pistol form. Although the shots weren't as large as normal, they would suffice as the two guards fired off another salvo of rockets.

Twirling the gun in his hand for dramatic effect, he fired two shots at either rocket, destroying them mid-flight. "Bam! Twenty points!" he said as he took aim and fired at either guard, knocking them to the ground. The redhead then took advantage of their downed forms and quickly threw his sword deep into the other rocketeer's neck while dodging the shower of bullets that were being sent his way.

He made a sprint for his sword, retrieving it from the man's shattered spinal column before he took up his rocket launcher and fired the last two rounds in the chambers at the battalions, disorienting them and knocking most of them to the ground.

He turned his attention back down the hallway and saw Phillips rounding the corner, but was then distracted by the spattering of gunfire around him. Thinking about the distance he had to cover, Mason got an idea and threw his axe at the remaining rocketeer. The axe dug itself deep into his helmet and caused blood to gush out in a shower as he dropped the rocket launcher he had primed to use against the berserker.

Firing at the battalion of guards the whole time, he made a mad sprint for the rocket launcher. Once he got to it, he fired off one of the rockets at the guards again, causing them to scatter before using the last rocket at point blank range, propelling himself through the air down the corridor with a demented glee.

Skidding across the floor in a forward roll, he watched as Phillips casually walked down a slope and through a small doorway

Of course, Mason moved to follow him, discarding the empty and broken rocket launcher. Running through the small doorway, Mason found himself in a dead end, with Phillips cornered in the large, rectangular room.

"Wait, are you telling me that this hallway just leads to this one room? Is that where all those guards were waiting the whole time?" Mason asked, sceptical about the logistics of the architecture. "So, were they all just-"

"Enough!" Phillips said as he pulled a cross off his belt. "You wanted a duel?" he asked rhetorically as the ends of the cross extended until it became a longer, larger version of its original size, making it more like a spear with a cross-guard. "Then this is where you will perish."

"No, this is where I teabag your corpse, filthy casual!" Mason shouted as he lunged forward in a leap attack. Phillips raised his spear to block both of Mason's weapons with ease as he descended, kicking the berserker away with one steel boot.

He tumbled for a moment before getting right back on his feet and charging the man again. Phillips easily blocked his strikes with lightning-fast reflexes while his robes twirled and fluttered behind him. The exchange of blows continued for several seconds, neither of them giving way, until Mason's stance separated his legs too far apart from each other, which Phillips took advantage of by kicking them further apart, causing him to lose balance. He stumbled as his guard was broken, giving the robbed figure the chance to twist the handle on his spear, making it glow a brilliant white before he brought it down for a diagonal swing.

The blow created a shockwave, throwing Mason back several feet and leaving a deep gash across his face. The redhead berserker lay motionless for a few moments as blood dripped from his face.

 _Blood…sweet blood._ Mason tasted his own blood, and instead of the typical, logical, and sane reaction of fear or self-preservation, Mason disregarded those silly little thought such as impending death or eventual morality. For there is no place for such ideas in the MLG.

Through Phillips' shiny helmet, no expression could be seen. However, as Mason looked up with death and blood in his eyes, he could tell he was afraid.

He suddenly lunged forward from his prone position on the floor, resuming the assault instantly. This time, he was pushing Phillips back, every swipe he delivered causing the man to take a step backwards, as mason drew blood time and time again.

At this point, his Semblance was working in overdrive, as he threw Fuil to the ground to use Bas with both hands, bringing it down as he delivered a series of overhead attacks that Phillips struggled to block.

Eventually, one especially strong overhead swipe was enough to break the gilded spear in half, staggering Phillips and leaving him without a weapon. Mason took full advantage off this, picking up Fuil off the floor and unleashing his full fury. In a brief second of furious strikes, red lines suddenly appeared across Phillips, deepening to large slashes, and then huge gashes, Mason glowing brighter the entire time, until, at one, sudden move, all of his semblance transfers its power to his weapons, making them glow a blood-red as he decapitated Phillips with Bas, the force of the swing much stronger than he anticipated. So strong, that there wasn't enough resistance in the decapitation that the axe flew out of his hands and embedded itself into the wall.

His head toppled to the floor, and his body followed soon after, but there were no arteries gushing with blood, rather only cooling fluid and sparks came out of the stump where the head once was, as Mason caught his breath, exhausted from the continuous battle and his raging hard on.

Then, the head started speaking again. "This fortress will be your sarcophagus, little cub." It said, before it started to flash bright-red as the rest of its body began to glow and spasm.

"Fucking martyrdom!" Mason yelled as he quickly made a break for the exit, knowing what was to come. Retrieving Fuil from where he left it on the ground and Bas from the wall, he entered the hallways to find that all of the surviving guards had left.

"Run, little one." A voice suddenly spoke out over a speaker in the base. "But it is already too late." Those were the last words he heard before explosions of fire ruptured from both ends of the base, trapping Mason as the ceiling collapsed on top of him.

* * *

From their monitors at another remote location, far away enough from both the Kingdoms and the Grimm, the heads of The United Coalition watched as one of their most well-designed, well-hidden bases of operations was destroyed through the safety of a holographic projection.

Years of planning, priceless equipment, hundreds of loyal men and resource allocation…all wasted on a single target. It had truly been one of their greatest strongholds, with its unique design making it inescapable from the inside. This had all been part of the plan; it always just seemed greater than it actually was.

"How're you holding up, Phillips?" A blonde-haired man asked Phillips, who was wiping his eyes while taking off a glass helmet.

"He's a tough one, I'll give him that." He grunted as he twisted his neck, cracking and popping some of the joints and bones. "Jeez, my head hurts like hell." he groaned. "Being forcefully disconnected like that sucks."

"Do you think it killed him?" A woman spoke up from one end of the oval table where the heads watched the live feed, completely ignoring Phillips' plight.

"I doubt anything could have survived the blast." Another man spoke up as he fiddled with a pen. "And if he did, then the tons of concrete being dropped on him should do the trick."

"I still think we could have used him." Another grey-haired man spoke up from another end of the table. "We all saw how effective he is."

"We also know how chaotic his kind can be."

"We've re-educated worse."

"You're asking to allocate resources and time we don't have into a project we don't know will work." The woman snapped. "Let's just all be glad the last of those mad cultists has been dealt with."

No one else spoke, their eyes glued to the holographic projection in shock as the camera focussed on something stirring from within the rubble.


	5. Chapter 0

**A/N: Looks like things are finally in full swing. If you're wondering why I didn't write any A/N's for the previous chapters aside from a disclaimer, it's because I didn't want to ruin the flow of the prologues.**

 **On that note, I'd like to personally thank my comrades for giving me the idea to write this story, even though I wanted to get through with DAWN first. Also, there will be references to future events in DAWN hidden in the MSTT (pun intended), so let's play that game where you guess what happens from the subtle hints I drop. You will also be able to talk to and ask the Editorial and Creative Department questions, through me. Yes, for the first time on this account, I will be doing active Q & A.**

 **Anyway, we should just probably start this off. EcoActivistElmo, anything you want to say to our viewers before we hit the MSTT story off?**

 **EcoActivistElmo: Prepare your anuses for some sock knocking story telling.**

 **Dalastjedi: …You know I'll be copy and pasting this right onto the first chapter, right?**

 **EcoActivistElmo: Yes.**

 **Dalastjedi: Ok. Like, this whole dialogue.**

 **EcoActivistElmo: You can censor it if you feel it is necessary.**

 **Dalastjedi: No need.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY, the quotes I used or any part of Rooster Teeth. All legal rights go to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum (present tense) and the original geniuses who beat me to creating such fantastic quotes.**

Divided We Fall

 **Five Days after Beacon Fell…**

No matter how many times you tell a story, it can always end differently. If there's one thing you learn from living, it's that all actions have consequences – cause and effect. Although, life has this funny way of keeping the balance between the two, a balance we can't understand.

To this day, Tanner still wondered if he could have just said 'No' and not have been a part of this. Waiting in the elevator, surrounded by armed guards and stuck in cuffs around his hands and legs with an Aura Restraint firmly latched onto his right upper arm.

Yet, he couldn't help feeling like he belonged next to the three men standing beside him. Well, one of them was unconscious, and the other was actually a Faunus, but the principle still applied.

Mason still struggled against the bindings and wooden gag stuck in his mouth, and Tanner couldn't help but feel that he smelled worse than usual, trapped in the confined space of the elevator. He was even covered in more blood than usual, but from what had been going on, it was understandable.

They had just been through a war.

On his left, he noticed SK was still trying to steady his breathing as his eyes darted back and forth between the guards and T's unconscious form. He had been that way for five days and now had to be dragged by two guards.

When asked why they should even consider bringing T along for this…questioning, Tanner had only replied with, "Because when he wakes up, what he has to say could save all of us."

Of course they still had to handcuff him and lock down both his prosthetic-arm and Aura, just like the others. In a way though, Tanner hadn't felt this calm in days. It felt good to finally get things straight and make the people who did this to Vale pay. For all those lost and scattered.

It especially helped that he didn't have to fight the good guys anymore.

"SK,-" Tanner tried to whisper, but SK – as he had come to know him – just stopped him.

"Don't." he said sternly as the elevator stopped and they were ushered out to a face a set of glass double-doors, where an oval table and several people were already talking, arguing. The room was dark and had no windows to let in any light, though it was night time and there would be no point in it. Behind them was a large holographic screen playing several different segments of footage of what had happened in Vale on repeat.

As soon as they stepped out though, all eyes were immediately on them and one of the men, dressed in a white robe set and a white mask slightly covered by a black hood disappeared in a flicker of light. Another man had black hair and a scruffy look to him, as well as a pair of ruby-red eyes. He wore a black and grey shirt with matching black jeans, and had a very curious look to his face.

Beside him sat a boy with dirty blonde hair and wore a black trench coat with an ultramarine-blue shirt underneath. The area below his torso was blocked from vision by the horizontal oval table, but Tanner could still make out sky-blue eyes through the shadow cast over his face by the holographic projection. Opposite to him on the other end of the table was a woman that Tanner had become all too familiar with, Glynda Goodwitch. And she did not look happy to see him.

He immediately regained his composure after stumbling from the rough push that the guard gave him; the order to walk.

As he did, two more guards rushed ahead of them to hold open the glass doors, their spears still aimed at his and SK's throats as they were forced through the doors.

The air in the conference room was much colder than the air outside, which shied away in comparison to the three cold glares they were getting.

After being forced down into a mahogany chair, hands still bound behind his back, the guards set T's unconscious form down next to him, followed by SK to his left and Mason after that. Tanner allowed his hands to shift over the headrest of the chair before the crimson-eyed man spoke in a really gruff voice.

"Thank you, now please leave." He directed towards the guards. Tanner turned his head to watch the guards leave the room and shut the glass doors, which then suddenly turned into an opaque shade of grey. It was only after Tanner turned back to face the three people on either sides of the table did he notice that his weapons, and the weapons of his teammates had been strewn about on them.

"You four aren't easy to find, y'know." The black-haired man continued as he rapped his knuckles against the wood of the table.

"That's kinda the point." Tanner said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Skip the pleasantries, Mr Vermillion." Glynda said with disdain and venom in her voice. "None of us have any times for your jokes."

"See if you were hiding, that must mean you have something to hide." The man said as he leaned across the table. "Something about Cinder Fall, perhaps?"

SK shifted next to him in a more upright position, staring down the older gentleman. "We didn't know that this was her plan."

"So you're saying that you wouldn't have helped her if you knew that Cinder was planning the downfall of Vale?" he shot back without missing a beat.

Mason tried to say something, but it came out as muffled nonsense because of the gag.

"You can think whatever the fuck you want." Tanner almost spat at him. "But you've gone after the wrong people! The ones who are actually responsible for this shit-fest are still out there! And I know for a fact that if both Emerald and Torchwick are involved in it, this fuck-load is only the beginning."

This time, the man slammed a fist on the table before standing up. "I think I've got the right people! So you better watch your trap or I'll-"

"Or you'll what? Kill us? Destroy one of the few leads you have on Cinder and her goons." SK shot back before shaking his head. "No, you need us. More importantly, we need him." He said as he leaned slightly towards T.

T's face was still covered by his facecloth and his cap, as nothing had been done with their attire when they were captured. The only article of clothing the guards had confiscated from them was Tanner's scarf, which now lay amongst their weapons.

"He knows more about what's going on than any of us, so the only way we can sort this out...is with him." SK finished, though the glare Qrow sent his way never diminished.

He looked like he was about to start shouting at SK, but the blonde-haired boy stood up and put a firm hand on his shoulder. "Look, we know you were trying to help…once things started gaining momentum. We found traces of your hack and recovered evidence that suggests that you were the ones to crash Blue Two, not Ruby." He said calmly, while keeping a stern demeanour. "What we want to know is how this all happened."

Tanner visibly relaxed at the mention of the reaper's name. "How is she? I haven't heard from her since the Team-based matches." He asked with a certain urgency. He was, of course, talking about the matches of the Vytal Festival. A time when peace was meant to be celebrated and strength was meant to be tested.

How had things gone so horribly wrong?

"You know her?" the crimson-eyed man asked.

Tanner swayed a little as he considered his answer. "Eh, not well enough to say that we're friends…look, all I want to know is if she's alright."

He stared at Tanner for a few moments, seeming to assess whether he was lying or not before chuckling. "She's fine. A little incapacitated, but she'll recover." Tanner let out a sigh at that.

"Thank you." He mumbled quietly before opening one eye. "Do…are you close to her?"

"Well, I'm her uncle, so I'd say so." He said, causing his eyes to go wide.

"You're Qrow Branwen." SK beat him to it with renewed interest. "The greatest scythe-wielder this side of Remnant." The tone of a sceptic in his voice.

"Kid, if you're trying to sway me with words-"

"I'm not. I just…it makes sense where Ruby got her skills from is all." SK said as he relaxed into his chair. "I also never imagined a teacher at Signal to be one of the few protecting the Maidens."

"The mere fact that you know of their existence proves that you know more than you're letting on." Glynda finally spoke up as she folded her arms.

Mason tried to say something again, but if came out muffled again because of the gag.

"Will someone get that head-clamp already!" the blonde boy seemed to ask no one.

"And Jay, I wouldn't have expected you to be a part of this either." SK spoke up again, giving the boy a narrow-eyed leer.

"That's the point." He said as he leaned across the table. "Nobody expects the kid that preaches Faunus Rights to work in the shadows."

"Makes sense given your background though."

"Wait, you know him?" Tanner asked, having lost the trail of where the conversation was leading.

"We digress." Qrow brought them back to the present. "Look, we're giving you a chance to prove that you're only interested in helping, but we can't do that unless you tell us how this all started. If you tell us the truth, we can discuss not putting all of you to death."

"Well, we won't be able to get the whole story until he wakes up." Tanner said, gesturing to T with his shoulder. As much as he wanted to get out of this hole he found himself in, he felt that he had to do this.

If for no one else, then for a certain team of Huntress-Trainees that were now separated because of them.

The three looked amongst themselves for a moment before turning back to Tanner and SK with concerned looks in their eyes. "He's been like that since the CCT was destroyed, hasn't he?"

SK and Tanner simultaneously let out a sigh. "Yeah, five days. However, as your medics have said; he's perfectly fine."

"In fact, his mind seems to be even more active than a normal human brain when they're awake." Jay commented as he pulled out his Scroll and began typing something.

Tanner was about to speak again, but the sound of wood snapping stopped him. Everyone turned to see that Mason had bitten straight through his wooden gag.

"Hold up." Mason finally said, causing SK to suddenly become agitated – probably at sitting so close to him. "I'm the Carry on this team, so I should get to have a flashback first."

"I don't think-"

"Abububub! I'm going first!"

"Fair warning; most of it won't make any sense." SK told no one in particular, though Tanner also knew that Mason had a tendency to twist the story.

"STFU faggot. I'm the team leader and you're the scrub, so you don't get to tell me how I should flashback." Mason said as he continued to struggle against the bindings, which the guards had bound to even more cuffs bound to the chair.

Qrow looked back and forth between the three and finally sighed once he got back to Mason. "Alright, so, how did you meet Cinder Fall?"


	6. Chapter 1

Agents of Chaos

 **A/N: Ok, so let's play a game. This story was founded on the ideas of me and some of my friends. I may be lead writer, but they have supplied me with like 70% of material in the story, so they deserve thanks for that. More importantly, each of the members of team MSTT are based off me and them. So, I am willing to reward anyone who can guess who is who. The other people that have helped me with this story are EcoActivistElmo – co-head of the creative department, AbsolHunter – lead artist for the story and (questionably) most importantly Mazon48TheWyrm – lead editor for the story.**

 **These three people are the editorial group, and they deserve a round of applause, so start guessing. First person to guess every single one correctly gets a prize.**

 **Dalastjedi: AbsolHunter, anything you want to say to the viewers before we start off the MSTT story?**

 **AbsolHunter: What should i need to say anything besides that these kids are not nubters and huntress theybdont have a moral wall for say so they wont be the heroes wants but in theses hard times the criminals they need IDK derp.**

 **Dalastjedi: You know I'll be copy and pasting this conversation onto a chapter.**

 **AbsolHunter: Please dont edit first**

 **Dalastjedi: Don't edit? Because your grammar sucks.**

 **AbsolHunter: Please dont, edit first***

 **Translation from** _ **English: Absol-ish**_ **to** _ **English: simplified**_

 **AbsolHunter: What should I need to say anything besides that these kids are not Hunters and Huntresses. They don't have a moral wall for say so they won't be the heroes we want, but in these hard times the criminals they need. IDK, derp.**

 **The Day After Cinder first Confronted Adam…**

Nothing in the world could compare to the satisfaction and feeling of camping in the wilderness, outside the safety and confinement of the walls of the Kingdoms. The feeling of being surrounded on all sides by darkness, with only the bonfire before you to keep you warm is a thrilling and exciting feeling.

Mason tried to think back to a time when he didn't spend the night in the forest, scavenging for dry wood and hunting other campers for sport, dinner and fuel for his fire. _Mhmm…Nope. Nothing comes to mind._ He thought blissfully as he tossed another severed head filled with flammable resins into the fire before him. _Easy Kingdom life is for scrubs._

Yup, nothing like it.

The best part was, he was also never lonely. The best part of hunting other people, that is. On either side of him were various severed limbs and appendages, propped up on wooden stakes to keep him company for the long night ahead. It was, of course, dangerous to travel the thick wilderness south-west of Vale, and travelling in groups was always advised.

"We showed them, huh Little Timmy?" Mason said to the severed head of a teenage boy he had killed not hours ago. He hadn't bother to ask for his name, and just assumed that his name was Little Timmy. "You and me are going to go on wonderful adventures, filled with 360 no-scopes and lots of MLG points." He said fondly, as he patted the wooden steak, shaking the head slightly.

"Another roasted leg?" he offered to the head with a wide smile. "Come on, I'm pretty sure it's not Human…No? Suit yourself." He said as he bit off a large chunk of what was probably not-Human flesh.

"You should really finish your arm, Timmy." Mason said, his mouth half-full of half-raw meat while he gestured to the wooden plate in front of the effigy. "I mean...unless you don't want it..." he let the statement hang as he slowly reached behind the effigy to grab the end of the roasted Human arm and pull it around and onto his own plate.

After finishing his leg and arm of...meat, he tossed the remains into the fire before pulling over his knapsack and scrounged around in it, searching for something.

"Come on, where is it?" he asked before his hands wrapped around a rectangular-shaped object. "Aha!" he proclaimed as he pulled out his Scroll. He then proceeded to open it and activate its camera function. After that, he struck a pose next to the severed head and took several snapshots.

"Selfie time with my best friends." He muttered to himself, flicking through the photos with a sadistic fondness. "There's nothing like it."

"Indeed." A slick, feminine voice called out from the tree-line, catching Mason off guard as he used his keen Night-vision to search the surroundings. After almost searching in a complete circle, he turned towards the sound of rustling bushes, as a tall woman with short ebony-hair and a red dress that ended at her hips stepped out of the darkness and into the faint light of his man-made bonfire.

Mason's eyes widened in surprise for a moment before licking his lips, a sinister smirk appearing. "Hold my Scroll for me, Timmy." He said as he put the device into the teeth of the severed head, standing to his feet as he carefully eyed his dessert. _First I'm gonna kill her, then I'm gonna use her…and then I'll eat her._ He thought out, careful to plan out his three-step dessert plan as he unslung Bas – folded into its lever-action shotgun form – off his shoulder.

"Please, there's really no need for that." The woman said with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.

"I don't think you understand how this works; I'm going to eat you." He explained, stressing the last few words.

"Trust me, you wouldn't want to do that." She said, still unfazed at all by Mason's advances as she simply stood there, hands at her side and weapons still strapped to her back.

This piqued Mason's curiosity. "And why not?"

The woman chuckled to herself, shaking her hair back and forth for a moment before responding. "Because you'll miss out on the deal of a lifetime."

Mason didn't respond, wanting to hear what the casual had to say first. He still kept his shotgun up as the woman before him continued. "I have a problem that requires your…field of expertise to resolve, and I can think of no better individual to deal with the problem." She ended with a slick smile.

"Is it period cramps?"

The woman's eyes widened at the question and her face turned into a snarl. "What?"

"Believe me, I know the pain." Mason said as he leaned on his axe like a crutch. "Just go with it, and it should clear by-"

"It's not period cramps." The woman said, with a slight twitch of her eye as she spoke through gritted teeth.

Mason paused, realizing his mistake and feeling awfully embarrassed by it. "Oh, I'm sorry…Is it labor cramps?"

"No!" the woman shouted as she put her hands on the hilts of her swords. As she looked like she was about to draw them, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before releasing her hold on the hilts.

She took another few seconds to breathe deeply before she opened her eyes to face the redhead. "There's a White Fang encampment several kilometers from here." She paused as Mason continued to stare at her, waiting for her to continue.

 _Ok, what does she want me to do? Kill them? Eat them? Screw them? All at once?_

"I want you to sneak into the encampment, and burn all of their wares." She said, bringing a sadistic grin to Mason's face as he thought of the chance to burn another village to the ground. That was…until he realized something.

"Hang on." He said, releasing his grip on Bas and holding both hands up to stop the woman before she continued. "Why should I burn down that encampment at your request? I mean, it throws off my schedule and is freakin' inconvenient as hell."

"Because I'm willing to pay you." She said as she stepped aside to reveal a briefcase hidden behind her.

Mason simply scoffed and laughed sarcastically at the proposal. "I'm not interested in money. If you want to pay me, you'd have better brought-"

"An incendiary cluster bomb?" the black-haired beauty finished, causing Mason to freeze at the words.

"What. Did. You. Say?" Mason asked, turning his head towards her more and more after each word.

"I thought it might interest you." Cinder said as she slowly paced around the briefcase. "I'll even give it to you to use on the encampment. I would use it myself, but I've got better things to do."

The redhead knew how to handle business types like her. All it took as a little patience, a little haggling, and they'd crack.

"Let me see! Let me see! Let me see!" Mason shouted as he ran over to the briefcase, sliding to his knees as he opened it as saw the beautiful device inside it. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back as he had a small murder-gasm, and imagined all the destruction and napalm-burnt corpses he could make with this device. "You have no idea how turned on I am right now." He muttered to the woman, not caring if she heard or not.

"So, what'll it be?" she asked, extending a hand to Mason, who was still kneeling on the floor.

The redhead Faunus looked from the bomb in the briefcase to the extended hand several times before he grabbed hold of the hand. _I like this girl's guts._ "When do I start?"

* * *

 **Roughly Four Months before Volume 1…**

It had been nearly two weeks since the dreadful events of the Trials, yet the gash wound on Sze Khun's left wrist had yet to heal. The bleeding had since slowed and the flesh had changed to a healthier color, but no matter what, the wound would not close.

At first, he thought that the halberd used to create the wound had been laced with Rot Dust or a variety that prevented healing, but every doctor and medic that he had since talked to have been unable to identify why the wound was unable to close.

He would've had it stitched up, but he had already spent more than half of his entire wallet just to see those few doctors that hadn't been able to help. Because of that, since he didn't know how to properly stitch a wound, he had to resort to bandaging it. This was also another reason why he considered seeing those useless doctors a mistake, as the bandages had to be changed every day. If it even got slightly dirty, the black-haired rogue would replace it with a new one out of fear that it would get infected.

He had his own theories as to why the wound would not close, but he would have to save that for when he had enough money to have it stitched up, because having to buy new bandages every day was more than enough daily upkeep to upset his entire budget.

Which is what led him here; to a bakery in downtown Mistral. How he ended up in Mistral, he still wasn't quite sure himself. All the rogue knew was that he had been constantly on the move, finding it more efficient to travel by night, giving him a chance to sleep as he snuck aboard different transport vessels, instead of searching for lodging wherever he ended up. Of course, he wasn't always sure where he would end up, but that was what he got for being so weak. Besides, he had nowhere to go, no destination ahead.

Might as well wander about.

Having run out of enough Lien to buy lunch and dinner, he had to resort to using his Semblance to carefully swipe some food. It wasn't that hard so long as nobody was looking as he miraculously caused a loaf of bread to vanish.

He had just left the bakery and was about to enjoy his simple lunch in an alleyway, when a weak applauding rang out from further down the alleyway.

Startled, he immediately shoved the wrapped up loaf in a rucksack that he was able to acquire in his travels, afraid it was someone who had seen his steal the bread. He wasn't proud of it himself, but he only took what he needed to survive, nothing more.

Looking down the alley, now darker because of the evening sunset, his glasses helped make the figure out of a woman who was leaning against the wall that cast the shadow in the alleyway. Even though her figure was shaded, Sze Khun could still make out a head of short-cropped mint-green hair with straight fringes. Her eyes were a dark-red and she had a dark complexion.

She was also wearing what Sze Khun considered to be…rather revealing clothing, but being from Vacuo, he had seen more revealing clothing than he ever wanted to.

"Very impressive." Said the green-haired woman, with a quirked smile.

 _Ok, Sze Khun…just play it cool._ "Good evening, miss. Can I help you?" he said, bringing his hands to his front to act like he was dusting off his shirt and trousers, but was actually wiping off the bread crumbs from his hands.

The girl seemed to be in deep thought for a few moments as she looked up at the sky, but quickly turned her attention back to Sze Khun. "Mmm, no. But I think I can help you." She said as she pushed herself off the wall and began slowly approaching Sze Khun, who was still rooted to the ground.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." He said, cursing himself for the slight stutter, which she clearly picked up on if the smirk was any indication.

"Too bad your lying isn't as good as your stealing; which, by the way, was pretty good." She said as she stopped ten feet from him.

That was the point Sze Khun decided to drop the innocent act, and move to threatening as his glasses began analyzing what he could see of her weapons. "If you're planning on telling the authorities, I swear I'll-"

"Geez, chill out for a second and hear me out." She said with a sarcastic eye-roll, though the grin never left her face, even when Sze Khun put his hand on the hilt of his scimitar. Pausing to consider the situation for a moment, he eventually lowered his hands to his sides, preferring to avoid a physical confrontation. "Good choice. I was watching you swipe the bread from across the street, and I think we can help each other. You see, my employer has the need for someone with your skills, and they're willing to pay. Plus, take it from me, the pay is really good."

Sze Khun gave a bark of dry laughter as he regarded the girl before him with a cold demeanor. _What am I? A mercenary?_ "I don't work with criminals and street trash." He tried to make his voice as sharp and menacing as he could.

"Take it from me; I used to be in your position, until She came along and found me. Now, I can buy myself a meal whenever I want." The girl said with a sincere, yet serious expression.

All this sounded too good to be true for the rogue. With no prior work experience or a resume of any sort, he'd been turned away by most people he encountered. But now? Now, he was being offered a job, just from having seen him steal a loaf of bread.

Anyone could steal a loaf of bread.

There were a lot of questions buzzing around in Sze Khun's head – weighing up to options before him in an attempt to dissect which would be the most effective option to take – but one question remained at the front of his thoughts. "Why should I trust you?"

The green-haired girl simply shrugged her shoulders with a small smile. "I really don't think you should, but all you're doing is missing out on a great deal."

"And if I say 'no'?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders, nonchalantly, "Then it's your loss. We can pull off what we need, She just thought that it would be easier if we had more help."

The girl turned to walk away, causing Sze Khun to suddenly feel under pressure at having such an opportunity slip his grasp. _Father would never approve of such…then again, Father never really approved of anything I did…_

"Wait!" he called out, causing her to stop in her tracks as she turned on one foot to face him. "What's your name?"

That was it. This was the point where he knew there was no going back.

It's not like an opportunity like this came very often anyway.

"Emerald." The girl said, extending one hand to shake. "My name is Emerald."

* * *

 **Roughly Five months before Volume 1…**

Another day, another successful sale. That's how Tanner made his living, a kind of justice in his own mind, but as his parents had taught him; anything could be profited from, even justice.

During the weekends, when he wasn't tracking the movements of the 'Four Corners' Mafia, Tanner travelled in between the outlying villages of Atlas to sell any Dust he could get his hands below the normal market price.

It really was incredible how he could stir up such a crowd with just a lower price.

He was just about to finish folding up his portable stall – and maybe grab a drink at a local inn – when the sound of footsteps and someone clearing their throat reached his ears. The sound came from behind him, but Tanner wasn't worried; if the man wanted him dead, he wouldn't have announced his presence.

… _Wait, no. There are people like that._ "Sorry, shops closed. We're not selling anymore." He said, not bothering to turn around and look at the person behind him.

However, when Tanner heard the slick voice of the man, he froze immediately.

"Not even for an old friend?"

The shock wore off quickly and he turned around slowly, finding that the man standing behind him was wearing a white suit with a pair of black gloves and an all-to-familiar bowler hat. He had a smile full of mirth as the brunette gaped with a wide mouth for a few seconds before breaking out into laughter.

"Shit, Roman! I haven't seen you in ages." Tanner said in between laughs as he gave the man a firm handshake, feeling that a light embrace was too childish at his age now. All the same, Roman reached behind him to give him a firm pat on the back.

"You sure have grown since I last saw you. How's the family?" he asked lightly as he pulled away from the handshake to lean on his cane.

Tanner shrugged his shoulders. "Eh, still crawling about the underworld like the worms they are." He remarked as he leaned back on the table of his stall that had yet to be folded up. "Now, what brings you to this frozen ass-end of the world?"

"Looking for you, believe it or not." Said the orange-haired man as he walked past the swordsman and over to the truck parked behind the stall. The shutters of the cargo hold were still open, so Roman got a good look at the Dust inside it. It always made the brunette swordsman a little nervous when people looked at his goods like that.

"No I don't believe it, and hands off the merchandise!" Tanner yelled as he walked over to close the shutters shut, only to remember that he wasn't done packing up yet. Opening them again, he hurried over to the table to finish folding it up.

"Ok," Roman muttered as he helped Tanner to load some of the folded parts into the truck. Tanner gave him an odd look, as this was unusual behavior by Roman's standards. "Truth be told, I'm actually here to make a deal with you."

"Oh," Tanner said as a smirk developed on his face. "We haven't done one of those in a while. What'll it be? I steal you a snow-globe and you give me two lollipops?" Tanner joked, causing Roman to laugh slightly.

"Something along those lines, but can we talk somewhere it's not so…" he paused as a cold breeze blew by, causing him to rub his arms.

"Cold? Sure, wouldn't want your balls to freeze out here." Tanner said as he directed them towards the local inn. The cold was also actually starting to get to the brunette, but he was able to ignore it – for the most part – with the help of his warm scarf.

Once they had settled in to a booth in the inn – warmed by the radiator under the table, with drinks in hand, they continued their conversation.

"You seem to be doing well for yourself." The orange-haired man remarked, offhandedly.

The brunette swordsman simply shrugged at the remark. "It keeps me fed and makes sure I sleep in a warm-velvety bed. Why?" Tanner said, leaning forward and looking at Torchwick like he was one of the shady businessmen he dealt with now and then.

Roman folded his hands together, interlacing his fingers as he cast his gaze downward. "You see, I recently signed up with a new business partner, really pushy-type. She needs me to steal an insane amount of Dust for her and she won't even tell me what it's for." He said with a chuckle as he unlaced his fingers and leaned his head on one of the open palms. "The point is, she told me to do whatever it takes to get the Dust she needs, while not doing anything too stupid. That includes paying other people to steal the Dust for me."

Tanner gave a hollow laugh as he put two and two together. "You want me to sell you my supply of Dust? That shouldn't be a problem…" the brunette noticed that Roman's serious expression hadn't dropped, meaning that there was more to this. "…so what is the problem?"

Letting out a long sigh, visible in the cold air, Roman continued. "The problem is my business partner has operations in Mistral and Vale."

 _There it is; the catch._ "It's been great to see you again Roman-" Tanner said before downing his glass of brandy. "-But I don't have time for your fucking business overseas." He said without any malice or hatred behind the words. He just…really had no time for overseas bullshit. "I'm struggling to deal with the 'Four Corners' as it is, I don't need Vale and Mistral on me as well." He concluded as he rose from his seat, signaling that the conversation was over.

However, Roman seemed to have other plans in mind. "It's too bad." He said with an exaggerated sigh. "It really was out of my way to come and look for you." The crook was obviously trying to make him feel bad for him with that forlorn tone of voice, but it wasn't going to work. "Plus, my partner was willing to pay you triple your selling price."

Tanner slowed down in his movements as he heard the offer, but not by much. _Ah, the money game. You always did know how to gamble, Torchwick._ Tanner thought, as the words slowly halted his attempts to leave the shady inn. Swallowing a lump that had developed in his throat, Tanner turned his head over his shoulder to see that Torchwick was now grinning. "I'm sure that money will help with taking down your 'pappies. As well as the fact that my partner is also willing to pay you in equipment and man-power."

"What kind of assets does this 'partner' of yours have to be able to do that?" Tanner asked, sounding a little more than skeptical about how generous the offer was.

"Oh, I can assure you, little man; my partner has more than a few…assets that she doesn't mind flaunting." Torchwick commented, careful to put emphasis on the innuendo, peaking Tanner's interest.

 _Damn him, he knows I can't turn away from a sweet piece of ass._ Taking another deep breath, the brunette decided to pry for two more pieces of information before he gave a definite answer. "How long-term is the deal?"

Roman sighed as Tanner slid back into his seat, notifying the man with his body language that he was on-board with the terms of the arrangement so far. "Y'know, I should've asked that myself; whenever She feels like it. Could be in a couple months, less than a week…you know the sort."

The final answer always depended on this question for Tanner, as he had his own goals in mind and didn't have time to be tied down by long-term business deals. Just from that answer, Tanner was considering declining the offer right off the bat, but he did feel bad for Roman…kinda. It was complicated; he knew what it was like to walk into a deal without reading the fine print.

Not to mention, the pay was pretty good. Leaning back into the cushioning of the chair he sat in, he came to terms with his final answer, determining them to be what he felt was right.

Because in the end, a 'gut feeling' was always the way he made his decisions.

 _Hey, they got me this far._ "Does your partner care where the Dust comes from?"

Torchwick's face broke into a huge grin as he signaled for the waiter to come over. "Not in the slightest. Just do it with discretion."

 **A/N: Ah, I miss Torchwick…not really. If you didn't pick up on it already, this is our interpretation of the backstory to the Canon-verse.**


	7. Chapter 2

Not Just Any Break-in

 **Dalastjedi: Now, before we begin; Mazon48TheWyrm, anything you want to say to the viewers before we progress any further with MSTT?**

 **Mazon48: Read moar or I will personally hunt you down and force you to read the rest of MSTT before shanking your arteries open and disposing of your body in the fire ant pen in a nearby zoo.**

 **Dalastjedi: Wow, leaving little to the imagination there buddy.**

 **Mazon48: AND THE FIRE ANTS IMPREGNATE YOU.**

 **Dalastjedi: Such a joker...seriously, this is no way to talk to the fans.**

 **Mazon48: Maybeee it is..?**

 **Dalastjedi: Seriously, it's not, so that's enough from you. Onto the story!**

 **Six hours after the Fall Maiden's Ambush…**

There were few times when Mason felt truly accomplished. It was often a feeling he reserved for when he burnt down a church full of priests or blew up an entire building with a single rocket, even times when he killed someone while using the severed limbs of another person as projectiles.

This time though, he felt accomplished.

With his backpack full of severed limbs and blood still dripping from his ginger afro, he felt that he went over and beyond the job he had been given. Not only did he burn down the entire encampment full of White Fang noobs, but he made sure that none of them survived to tell the tale.

"That'll teach them to reject my resume." He grumbled to himself as he pulled off the head that dangled on a key-ring by his belt and held it in front of him. "Ain't that right, Timmy?"

" _Yes,"_ said Timmy, who oddly sounded like the voice in his head that his therapist claimed went away several years back. _"All those that stand if your path will taste_ _your blade."_

"All this talk of swords and tasting is making me hungry." Said the redhead, more or less ignoring the voice he heard.

" _I don't see what that has to do with anything."_ The voice countered, confused.

"That's because you're just the head of a dumbfuck. I don't expect you to understand me." Mason giggled merrily as he hung the head by the ring on his belt, continuing through the forest to the rendezvous point that he had been given before embarking on this mission.

He hadn't even had to waste that much ammunition, as all it took was to plant the incendiary bomb into the shed where they kept all their ammunition. Well, that and to 'borrow' some of the rocket launchers they left lying about in the armoury in order to blow up anybody that tried to put out the fires apart.

After that, it was just the tedious job of burning down each of the buildings until they were nothing more than a pile of charred sticks and ash.

It wasn't even that hard to infiltrate the encampment; all he had to do was show anyone he passed the Faunus ears he kept hidden under his afro.

Lots of people would say that there was no art to murder and arson, but Mason didn't give a shit what they thought because he was an 'Arson-fucking-master'.

"Whelp, easiest stealth mission ever." Mason mused to himself as he got closer and closer to the spot where he was supposed to give the report to the black-haired woman. The broken moon hung high in the sky, as the night turned into very early dawn. If it weren't for his unsurprisingly good Faunus night-vision, Mason wouldn't be able to see more than two metres in front of him due to the faint moonlight, most of which was being blocked out by passing clouds. Even then, Mason had to watch carefully not to stumble into a thorn-bush…again.

Passing through another patch of dry twigs and leaves that stuck to his frizzy afro and scarlet-red T-shirt, he picked them off methodically, cursing under his breath that he couldn't just set them on fire without setting himself on fire.

"What are you looking at?" he shouted at a small shrub of leaves, anger barely contained. Kicking at the nearby bush with his thick rubber boots to vent his frustration, he finally noticed a light in the distance after he had completely uprooted it.

"Ah, that must be them." He said to himself again as he skipped merrily through the thickets to get to them, a complete – and sudden – change in personality in less than five seconds.

" _Be warned, Blood-drinker."_ He heard Little Timmy's surprisingly deep voice in his head once more. _"They are not to be trusted."_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever." Mason dismissed as he burst through the twigs and branches and into the clearing. "Did you miss me!" he shouted as he struck a pose, pretending like he had just finished a big musical number.

The sudden outburst caught the people in the clearing by surprise, causing them to draw their weapons and point it towards him until the ash-haired woman recognized who it was and sent a scowl his way, which Mason returned with a smug smile.

"Lower your weapons." She said through gritted teeth. "He's with us."

"Hey, you look familiar." The silver-haired boy said as he relaxed out of his tense combat-stance.

"Maybe you've heard of me?" Mason said as he raised one hand to the sky while pointing the other towards the ground. "Mason Mars: mass-murdering cannibal arsonist extraordinaire!" He declared triumphantly.

"Why doesn't that make me feel any safer?" the mint-green haired girl asked rhetorically, but Mason took the question seriously, sprinting right up to her until he was right in her face.

"I also do necrophilia." He whispered in a low, husky voice accompanied by a menacing grin, before being kicked in the shin, followed by a high-kick to his chest. The force and anger behind the blows was enough to send him onto his back.

"Watch it, before I-"

"Now, now, Emerald. This man is here to help our cause, not to fight us." Cinder said, clearly having enjoyed watching Mason being thrown onto his back, if the smirk was any indication. "In fact, I believe he has already completed his mission."

"Yep, I burned the whole encampment to the ground and brutally dismembered everyone!" Mason cheered as he simply laid on the ground, content with himself.

"Excelle-You did what?" Cinder suddenly shrieked in shock and anger, causing Mason to bolt upright.

"I burnt the whole base down to ashes. And I killed everyone; just like you asked." He said as he removed the head from his belt and held it at neck-level, in his outstretched right hand. "Isn't that right, Timmy." He said before he broke into maniacal laughter.

The voice of Little Timmy sighed. _"This never ends well."_

"Anyways, no need to thank me." Mason continued as he hung the severed head back onto his belt and jumped to his feet, completely oblivious of the fiery glare Cinder was sending his way, or the way her glowing eyes twitched ever so slightly from the anger and pure rage boiling under her skin. "Although, I will accept payment in the form of more incendiary weapons and-" Mason was cut off as a ball of fire was sent his way, which he narrowly dodged.

"I needed those men to be scared!" Cinder yelled, her voice echoing in the empty forest and causing her two companions to go wide-eyed and back away slowly. "I needed them alive, in fear, not dead! I specifically told you to burn the encampment, not slaughter them!" she shrieked the last part as she sent another fireball Mason's way.

Any normal person would have been terrified beyond wetting themselves. But then again, Mason wasn't anywhere close to a normal person.

"So, what?" Cinder threw another fireball.

"I can't believe I trusted this to someone like you. I should've known you would louse this up." She said through grit teeth in a softer, grittier tone – much more like a normal speaking voice – even though the intensity never left her eyes. "And now, you're going to pay for it." As she said this, her amber eyes flickered and glowed even brighter, while at the same time, the treeline around the clearing began to catch fire. The fire gradually spread from one tree to another until they were trapped in a ring of burning pillars of oak-wood.

However, none of this seemed to faze Mason. _Heh, Faze._ "Girl, if you're going to threaten me, then don't use nooby cliché tricks."

The remark caused Cinder to chuckle as she looked to the ground and shook her head. The flames surrounding them made her shadows appear to stretch in every direction as she looked back up. "Then how about a new trick?" she asked as a high-pitched shrieking sound seemed to come out of the ground.

By the time the ginger Faunus was able to look at the ground, he was already being blown into the air by an explosive force. Twisting in mid-air, Mason was able to turn back to face the black-haired woman as she drew back on the string of her bow and fired a volley of three arrows at him.

Drawing Fuil from its sheath on his belt, he was able to block two of the arrows before the third exploded once it hit him, sending him falling back to the ground at an angle so that he slammed into the bark of one of the burning trees.

The hot ash and embers of the tree bark singed the back of Mason's hair as well as the straps of leather he wore across his body as armour slightly, but the pain nearly didn't bother Mason as he got back to his feet and rushed the woman. With both weapons in hands, he was able to deflect all the arrows she sent his way and tackled her to the ground.

With his enemy underneath him, Mason was about to deliver the finishing blow with Bas, but was blown back by a wave of orange-coloured energy from underneath him. Not even bothering to stick the landing, he just tumbled along the ground before scrambling back up, looking from left to right as Cinder's associates began approaching him, weapons at the ready.

"No!" they suddenly froze as Cinder struggled back to her feet. Picking up her bow, she pushed both of them away, approaching Mason at a slow walk. "He's mine." She said as she sent a blast of energy his way.

Transforming Bas and Fuil into their shotgun and heavy-pistol modes, Mason fired several salvos of bullets at Cinder as she slowly approached him, only for Cinder to bat the bullets out of mid-air with her hand, a trail of embers following her hands and the bullet shells as she smacked them away.

Realising this tactic wasn't working, the redhead transformed Bas back into its notched-axe form before charging the menacing woman before him, head on.

Every few times he swung out at Cinder, he was able to hit her on her arms and legs – her Aura absorbing almost all the damage he dealt. The other times, the axe caught the blades of the bow as she repeatedly tried to push him back up against the burning tree again. However, as their fight progressed, Mason felt himself get stronger, and it was obvious Cinder did too.

Switching in between slashing at her with his axe and taking a pot-shot with his pistol seemed to wear her down, but it wasn't enough to do any real damage. Eventually, while Mason was twisting on his spot, he tried to fire a shot straight into Cinder's exposed torso. However, the ash-haired woman anticipated the attack and grabbed the end of the gun, aiming it away so that the shot completely missed before twisting the gun in Mason's grip. Unable to register that he should let go of the gun, the redhead was sent tumbling to the ground as he was tossed across the clearing.

" _You cannot win this encounter. You must retreat."_ Mason heard the voice of Timmy in his head tell him, and he couldn't help but agree as the heat of the flames was starting to get to him. It was only then did he notice that some of his armour was on fire – probably from being blasted at.

Quickly patting the fire away, he spoke out loud. "You're right; if I die here, I'll just be another redshirt character in this stupid story."

" _What does that even mean?"_

"Doesn't matter!" Mason snapped back as he pulled the head off his belt. "Do not worry, Little Timmy, you're sacrifice will be remembered and avenged." He said, turning all his attention to the head which he had learned to call his best friend over the course of the last day.

" _When I return, you shall be the first of my dark culling."_ Mason heard the voice tell him as he tossed the head in his hand like a ball. Cinder was already approaching him, her hands seemingly unharmed even though they were in balls of flame.

"Hey biatch! Get Rekt!" Mason hollered as he tossed the head through the air, directed towards Cinder. As expected, she instead threw a fireball at it, which reacted with the explosive plastics he had stuffed the head with, along with some phosphorus, magnesium and iron nails.

The result; a flash-smoke-nail-grenade.

It wasn't the most conventional escape tool, but it worked nonetheless. The flash stunned Cinder and the others, while the shower of rusty nails was enough to knock her on her back – her Aura still absorbing almost all the damage that was dealt. While all that went down, Mason quickly made a run for the treeline, concealed by the smokescreen.

When he was a suitable enough distance from the treeline, he silently swore to avenge the death of his fallen comrade; Little Timmy. _Just for that, I'm gonna make sure I don't lube-up before going in. With my cold, hard, sword. Right through her throat…all the way i_ _nto her stomach_ _._ He said to himself in his mind as the clearing burst with flame several times, the flames catching more trees alight.

* * *

 **Roughly 4 Months before Volume 1…**

"You want me to what?"

Cinder groaned incredulously as she paced back and forth in front of the holo-screen that displayed a map of Remnant. "It's simple, really." Going over the plan in more detail, for a second time. "We've arranged you safe transport to Atlas, you'll be where we asked you to be at the designated time. Then, once everything is in place, we'll give you the signal to move on the Cross-Continental Transmit Tower. Make your way to the communications floor, and then just put the Scroll in the console that connects to the whole mainframe. It'll do the rest itself, then once it's done, take it with you and get out, quietly."

The black-haired boy scoffed sarcastically. "You say that like it'll be easy. You know what they call that tower back in Vacuo?" he asked rhetorically. "The Iron Column. That building is more secured than their national bank. Not to mention, there's really only one entrance and exit if I'm heading for the Comms. Floor."

Cinder sent the teen a glare before continuing. "I never said this was going to be easy. But, Emerald trusts you, and if her thievery is as good as her choice of thieves, then I'll assume that you're worth your pay-check."

Sze Khun thought this over, memorising every little detail about the plan in his head before turning to Emerald, who stood at his side. He quirked an eyebrow at the woman, and she just nodded her head in Cinder's direction, giving the rogue the indication that he should continue to hear her out before coming to a final decision.

"And the payment?" he asked, getting straight to the heart of the matter. He had seen how much Cinder was willing to pay him for this suicidal mission, and it almost made up for how dangerous and insane the task was.

The ash-haired woman sighed once before waving her Scroll at the holo-screen, causing it to display the small image of a wooden box. "Your payment is in the lock-box and is being transported to Atlas as we speak. Complete your mission and we'll give you the coordinates and codes to the box. After that, do whatever you want with the money." She said as a grin tugged at her face. "However, should you call the number in the box; I can promise you that we can make you wealthier beyond your dreams. Provided you can perform the assignments we give you."

The black-haired boy nodded his head, his glasses recording their conference as well as downloading the details of the mission that he had already decided to accept, no matter what.

However…

"What happens if I double-cross you? What happens if, instead, I were to tell the Atlesian authorities about this 'plan' of yours? From what I can see," he said, gesturing to the warehouse they were in, which was stocked with Dust, weaponry, several smelly White Fang goons and a multitude of stolen goods. "-you've probably got one hell of a grudge against the leading governments. Not to mention, planting a virus in the Atlas Network is a crime short of a life-sentence in prison."

She gave a small, appreciative hum as she walked right up to Sze Khun, faces inches apart with a devious smirk on his face. The invasion of personal space by such a dangerous – but admittedly attractive – woman was making the rogue sweat and his mind go numb.

"I like you S-ze K-hun" she said, still getting the pronunciation wrong, but Sze Khun's mind was still too fuzzy to correct her. "So inquisitive, so curious, so eager to test the waters." She said as she slid her hand along his neck, only to cup his face with a firm grip. "Only to be burnt. So, for your sake, don't even think about trying to betray me. And trust me; I'll know if you do." She said the last part in a sing-song voice before sauntering over to the holo-screen once more.

It wasn't the response he wanted, but he was too scared to ask again. If this woman was anything, she was hot. Oh…and dangerous. Probably very dangerous.

"She means it." Emerald said from his left, catching his attention and causing him to turn to her, who had a look of sympathy for him. Though, Sze Khun couldn't quite place what the look meant.

Breathing out a sigh that felt heavier than it should have, Sze Khun couldn't quite help but feel that he didn't even know what he was getting himself into. _Military-grade weaponry, several AK models, a militia of Faunus terrorists…what does this mean? Looks like the start of a coup if anything._

"So when do we move out?" he directed the question to Cinder, who turned around just as Mercury walked up to whisper something to Emerald. They both looked in his direction before sharing a look and shrugging.

"We're still waiting on a few more assets to fall into place, but regardless, we'll be moving out a few hours past midnight." Cinder said as she walked over to a metal table off to the side of the corner of the warehouse they were in. "So relax, and be ready to move when I say so." She said in her silk-smooth voice as she walked back over to the black-haired teen, passing him the cardboard packet she had picked up off the table.

He turned the packet around to look at the label, finding that it was a packet of high-quality bandages. _Anti-septic and absorbent.._.He looked back at Cinder and found that she wore a rather pleased look on her face. "Like I said; I reward those that get things done very generously."

He huffed as she turned to walk off before taking off in the direction of a set of foldable chairs that rested against the wall. Just as he was about to pull one out and set about changing his bandages, he was shoved in the shoulder, causing the packet of bandages to slip out of his hands. He fumbled with catching them for a few moments before he finally caught hold of the box.

He turned to send a glare at Mercury and Emerald, unsure of who had shoved him, but still angry at their snickers.

"Just wanted to say 'Welcome to the Team'. No need to take it personally." Mercury said, trying to supress his snickering as he held out his hand to be shaken. When Sze Khun didn't return the gesture – only continuing to glare at the teen – he pulled his hand back and wore an incredulous on his face. "Fine, Mr. Too-Cool-For-School doesn't want a handshake, he's not going to get one." He said, raising his arms up in surrender before turning on his heel and walking away.

"Ignore him, See Khun." Emerald said, gently elbowing him in the side, but still getting the pronunciation of his name wrong. "Who knows; he might grow on you."

Unfolding the chair and falling into it, the black-haired rogue set about removing the bandages that he still hadn't changed since meeting the mint-haired girl. "I told you, just call me SK. At this rate, you'll never get the pronunciation right."

Emerald chuckled lightly before running a hand through her hair. "Yeah, no sweat. Listen, I'm gonna catch up with Merc, don't get into trouble without us." She said the last part over her shoulder as she turned to follow the silver-haired boy, but Sze Khun was barely paying attention.

' _Welcome to the Team'…Like that's some kind of honour or something…_


	8. Chapter 3

Hand in The Cookie Jar

 **A/N: Before you think I'm trying to self-advertise, just hear me out. Further on in the story, some references will be made to my other story, RWBY: The DAWN, as until Rooster Teeth proves me otherwise, I'm going to consider Canon (aside from a few minor plot-conflictions). What I'm trying to say is both stories tie in together, and one won't make as much sense unless you read the other. For those of you carrying over from RWBY: The DAWN, I will get back to writing the story once I reach a certain point in MSTT. Until then, enjoy the show.**

 **Also, this story is open to OC submissions. Just give us the OC's name, physical features, age, weapon, Semblance and outfit so that we can kill-I mean implement him/her into the story.**

 **Three Nights Later…**

Hazel-bronze eyes glimmering ever so slightly in the bright lights of the city, SK waited for his signal to move forward with Cinder's plans.

Sitting atop one of the rooftops of the dormitories of the Atlas Huntsmen Academy, facing the CCT Tower. He couldn't help but feel that it was actually even larger than he thought it was. _Maybe they got some measurements and scaling wrong…maybe the understated how big it was in the articles about-I'm rambling again, aren't I?_ SK shook his head clear of the thoughts, adamant in getting the doubts out of his mind.

He had a job to do; and he was going to have to focus his mind on it in order to ensure he didn't make any mistakes.

It obviously didn't help that the weather in Atlas was so damn cold! Having grown up in a place like Vacuo, he had his own fair share of cold nights in the desert, but nothing could compare to the constant, frigid temperature of this Northern Kingdom.

It was times like this that he thought fondly of that hot, sandy Kingdom he called his home. When he had too much time to himself and nothing to do, he thought of the sweet memories of the home he could never go back to, and the bitter memories of what led him to this situation. Unfortunately, his father had made it very clear the day he left that he was never welcomed back, ever.

Submitting to this unforgiving fate, he had lost the will to try to redeem himself days ago.

He had his cowl drawn over his head to keep his ears warm and to keep the snow out of his hair. _They never mentioned any snowfall in the weather article…and the thermometer in my glasses is obviously broken. Only twelve below…it's like forty below or something!_ It did help that he had opted to buy a hunter-green poncho the night before he had left Mistral, but it still didn't do much to help keep the cold out.

He quickly glanced to the top-right corner of his glasses to check the time. _2345 hours…gee, thanks a lot for the precise information on when we'd be carrying out this Op, Cinder._ He thought, sarcastically. _I could be sitting inside a warm coffee shop, sipping hot chocolate. But instead, I'm sitting up here and freezing my-_

His train of thought was interrupted by a preset ringtone in his earpiece. Quickly tapping the side of his glasses – which were touch-sensitive, the ringing stopped as he accepted the call.

"Everything is in position. Be ready to move out in exactly two minutes." He heard Emerald speak, which confused him as he thought that Cinder would be the one to make the call.

"Alright. Where's Cinder? I thought that she'd be the one calling?" SK asked as he stood up from his sitting position, slightly stiff from how still he had been sitting in the cold.

"She's helping Mercury on his side of the distraction. He screwed up with setting the charges to free the prisoners, so yeah." She finished, and SK couldn't help but chuckle somewhat.

Shaking his head while tapping the other side of his glasses, he closed the top-down map of the Atlas Academy which he had been studying for the past few minutes. "How do you mess up with setting a few charges?"

Emerald chuckled in turn. "I don't know, but apparently he placed them on the wrong prison block. Cinder's worried that he might kill more prisoners than free them."

The black-haired rogue huffed out a frosty breath before rubbing his upper arms. "Hey, question; how are you wearing that sad excuse for a bikini and not freezing?"

Just as he thought the mint-green girl was about to reply, another stern voice cut her off. "Cut the talk you two. Aren't you supposed to be moving out now?"

"Right." SK simply said as he took one step off the edge of the roof and fell feet-first to the ground as he tapped the sides of his glasses again, tinting the lenses dark enough to conceal his eyes.

"Sorry." Emerald said at the same time. Breaking his fall with a roll, SK tried to make as little noise as he could while allowing his Aura to absorb the impact of the sick-ass fall. When the rogue stood up from his roll, he was nowhere to be seen, having activated his Semblance – Vanish.

With his Semblance activated, he could not be seen with the naked eye and several sensors, but he himself could see everything clearly. Truthfully, he saw clearer in his Vanished state than he did normally, as even though the world he saw was like looking through a foggy window, people would appear as bright white silhouettes in the darkness, himself included. It made fighting the creatures of Grimm easier as well, as they appeared as pitch-black forms in the light.

He had to work quickly and quietly, as even though it was past curfew for many of the people attending the school, there was very little cover to work with, a little too much lighting, and several guards patrolling the walkways of the campus.

Weaving in between the identical and side-by-side dormitory buildings and a few guards – both human and synthetic, SK eventually made it to the Cross-Continental Transmit Tower without many incidences. Now came the challenging part.

Next to the Academy and the archives in it, the CCTT was the second most heavily guarded building on the campus, which was saying a lot because the Atlas Academy itself is one of the most well-kept places in Atlas.

In front of the entrance to the Tower stood a squad of four guards, two on either side of the doorway. One pair of them were Androids while the other pair were Humans. Standing just three meters directly in front of them, SK waited for the distraction that would draw them away from their posts so that he could sneak in.

Of course, he could have just snuck right by them, but Cinder didn't want to take the chance that they'd find him out because they took notice of the glass doors opening by themselves.

Tapping twice on the right side of the glasses, several nametags appeared in the rogue's vision. From the number of nametags in his vision, he could tell how many other guards were waiting inside. It was one of the few tricks that he had learned and implemented while he was still in Vacuo, as most soldiers in the armies of the Kingdoms were given 'Friend or Foe' tags identify them in the heat of battle. One of his mentors had taught him how to interface with the FoF system, while remaining invisible to them.

Taking a deep breath to still his shaking nerves, Cinder's voice rang out over the intercom system once more. "Detonating primary charges." Not three seconds later, a loud explosion could be heard and seen in the distance. It was far away enough that it would draw the guards a nice distance away, but not far enough that the guards would simply let a closer unit handle it by themselves.

The explosion had the intended effect as the startled guards began shouting orders and calling out different call-signs as they ran towards the explosion, weapons drawn. Several of the guards inside of the CCTT even took interest and began following their comrades to help stop the rampaging prisoners, leaving only two to defend the vital means of communication.

Once they were a sufficient distance away, SK made his move, running through the automatic glass doors and into the building. He was immediately met with the – only slightly – warmer temperature of the controlled environment of the tower, which was a relief to him as he wouldn't have to worry about his limbs going numb. Aside from the two guards standing by the elevator access, the rest of the building was empty and devoid of people.

This made his job all the more easy as he ran past the glowing central server unit that looked like it held the whole building together. And, unlike the CCT Tower in Vacuo, the interior of the 'Iron Column' was a gunmetal-grey and most of the lights glowed white or blue. Other than that, the ground floor of the tower looked just like any other…except bigger.

Quickly dashing behind the central server and out of the guards' field of vision, he dropped his invisibility and caught his breath, quietly. Even though it wouldn't sound like it was exhausting, using his Semblance to turn invisible actually took a lot out of the rogue. While his breathing was still heavy, he tapped on his earpiece.

"I'm inside…still two more guards, I'll need to deal with them first." He said in between breaths.

"Very well." He heard Cinder reply. "Neo, detonate secondary charges." Only a few moments after the order had been given, SK heard another explosion like thunder. He chanced a look around the server, only to find that the guards hadn't moved. In fact, they seemed to be on higher alert than usual.

 _Ok…Distraction 101…I can do this…_ He thought as he tried to control his breathing, the excitement and adrenaline threatening to get the better of him. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a small glass marble that he was able to snitch from a stall in a market place a while back. He had thought that he could use it for such an occasion, but couldn't imagine that it would be on this scale.

Feeling the small weight of the marble in his hand, he chucked it across the room so that it made a loud clatter against the metal walls and floor.

Focusing on activating his Semblance, he peered around the server as the two guards started at the sudden sound.

"What was that?" asked one of them, as he pointed his rifle in the direction of the noise.

"Dunno, I'm going to go check it out; stay here." The other ordered as he began his slow approach to the opposite end of the room.

SK took the chance and rounded the server, on the opposite side of the approaching guard and made a silent dash for the second one. _At least I only have to deal with one._ He thought as he silently drew Yakmak.

Ok, it wasn't as silent as he would've liked, but it didn't startle the guard too much.

Warm metal blade glowing bright-bronze in the unseen Vanished world, SK brought it back…

And hit the guard over the head with the pommel of the scimitar.

The Atlesian guard collapsed to the ground as the rogue followed up the attack with an uppercut from his free left-hand, though the guard's face was harder than he thought at first and he had to rub the pain out of the reddened knuckles.

After the pain quickly subsided, SK hailed the elevator and grabbed the guard by his body armor, dragging him to the doors of the elevator as it arrived before shoving the unconscious man inside.

Pulling out his Scroll, he placed it to the console inside the elevator as it closed, causing the mechanisms within it to begin pulling it upwards as he deactivated his Semblance once more, having to lean against the walls of the elevator for support.

"Ok, I'm in the elevator and am on the way to the Communications Floor." He spoke into the earpiece as he bent over to search the unconscious body of the guard for any supplies he could use. He took the helmet and the spare ammunition that the guard kept on him as Cinder spoke into the Comms. Link.

"Good. You have three minutes to complete your task." She said as the black-haired teen shoved the clips of Dust in between the sash that ran across his chest.

"Alright. Just one question: isn't there supposed to be an artificial intelligence working at the Tower at all times?" SK asked, only now remembering this piece of information.

"Yes, but we created a bunch of false alarms that have him running about and spreading his processing capabilities. In short; he's too busy to be bothered with you for now." Emerald replied instead, in charge of the interface and surveillance for this mission.

"Ok…That's good, I guess." SK replied before cutting communications, feeling uncertain about himself. He always got this feeling when anything went sideways, like a last-minute warning telling him that he missed something important.

The elevator eventually stopped at the Communications Floor, the doors sliding apart to reveal the empty and dark room. Still, the rogue had unsheathed Yakmak and was holding it like a rifle just in-case.

 _No doubt the guard downstairs is going to notice his missing partner…better work quickly…_ he thought as he dragged the unconscious guard out of the elevator, resting him at the base of one of the communication consoles. After that was done and he relieved the guard of his weapons, he walked backwards slowly, keeping an eye on the guard in case he woke up, only to trip over an exposed cable.

Falling backwards with a loud thump, SK dropped the guard's weapons. _Who the hell leaves a thick cable like this exposed?_ He thought as he stared at the offender. Kicking out at it once, he got back up and quickly scrambled around to the main control console.

After having found the power button and turning on the device, he quickly slotted the Scroll that Cinder had given him into the available port. Immediately several lines of code appeared on the screen as information seemed to begin transferring from the Scroll to the mainframe.

"I've plugged the Scroll in, shouldn't be more than a minute now." SK reported into his earpiece, which crackled as Cinder spoke over the other line.

"Wonderful, I expect you to be done in less than that." She replied as the rogue watched the blue bar on the screen reach further and further.

"Easier said than done, I-" whatever he had to say stopped right that instant when red warning symbols began flashing on the screen. "Something's wrong!"

"What do you mean?" Cinder asked, actually sounding concerned for once.

"I don't know. I'll see if I can find the problem but…" the sentence trailed off as the black symbol of an eye with a crosshair for a pupil flickered on the screen. "I don't get it, it's like somebody-"

"-knows you're in the system." Emerald finished, a deep chill and hollow quality akin to fear in her voice.

"Yeah, how did you…? Cinder what's going on?" he waited a few seconds for a reply, but none came. "Hello?" he asked again, but no response came as all the lights in the Communications Floor flickered off. At this point, the teen was beyond scared as his breathing became more erratic.

Staring into the blank screen, SK knew that something had gone horribly wrong, and that this spelled out another failure to chalk up on the Board of Failures.

 _No! This can't end like this._ He thought as his mind searched for something to go forward on, a lead, a sense of direction…anything. Eventually, his eyes landed on the folded up Scroll, blinking red in the darkness. He yanked the Scroll out of the port, which caused all the lights to flicker on in the room as well as a few words written out in pixels to form on the screen.

'You Should Not Be Here.'

"Please get out of my chair." SK started at the sound of the voice, falling out of the chair on his back. He was facing a man who looked to be about in his thirties and wore the typical white overalls of an Atlas man. However, he glowed a radiant white.

"The Tower's AI system." The black-haired teen muttered as he scrambled away on his hands while the holographic projection took his seat at the main console.

"That was a clever trick you pulled; distracting me to divert my attention." He continued in his calm, monotonous tone. "But now your tricks and sabotage have come to an end. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a nice day."

He got to his feet to see the three sets of lights above the elevator doors that ran up and down the tower begin to tick down to the Communications Floor. The elevators were coming, and they were likely full of guards.

 _This is not how this ends._ SK thought as he pocketed the extra Scroll and drew his scimitar out of its sheath on his back. _Nobody double-crosses me. I'm going to find Cinder and whoever blew my cover, and I'm going to make them pay._ He thought, getting into his battle-ready stance as all three elevators arrived at roughly the same time.

* * *

 **Present Day…**

"Admittedly, there were a lot more well-armed guards than I thought at first, so in the end I avoided a physical confrontation and snuck out." SK finished his tale, slouching back into the soft chair.

Qrow scratched his beard as he seemed to process the information SK had just divulged. "I'm still curious as to how you didn't think about the ramifications your actions could have caused."

SK let out a defeated sigh. "Like I said; I was just interested in the money that Cinder promised, I was too…enraptured by the offer to see what could've happened."

"That still doesn't sound like a good reason." Tanner muttered, which SK picked up on.

"Hey, I was on the streets, starving. I didn't want to lose the job opportunity. Plus, who's to say she wouldn't have just killed me if I walked away?" SK countered, causing the argument to pick up pace.

"You've used that excuse for like the hundredth fucking time and I still don't buy it!" Tanner shot back, struggling against his bindings.

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand! If you think you're doing the right thing taking on your family's mafia all by yourself, without the authorities, you're just as bad as them."

"Fight, fight, fight!" Mason began chanting, and Tanner was about to continue the argument if it weren't for the blonde boy in his black trench coat slammed his hand on the table.

"Enough!" his powerful voice made Tanner shrink back slightly, the boy having not raised his voice before this. After a moment, he resigned to cooperating with the authorities like they had agreed. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, Jay continued. "So you were able to evade all the guards around the tower, the surveillance and defense system in the tower itself, and then fled to hide in the city." Jay recapped the story, causing SK to nod his head solemnly.

"I had a few close calls with the guards, but I was able to make it out." The rogue finished. Tanner could see out of the corner of his peripheral vision that the black-haired boy seemed to be trying to scratch an itch under the heavy cuffs they wore around their wrists. It was probably the wound on his arm. "Atlas security is good, but there are some things even their cameras can't see."

"You are referring to your Semblance, Vanish?" Glynda questioned in a calm yet curious tone, earning a nod from the teen.

"Hides me even from their best cameras. I've heard it's the talk amongst most scientists studying Aura." SK seemed to be trying to steer the conversation to more casual territory. Glynda seemed like she was about to respond and say something intelligent, but Qrow cut her off.

"We're off topic. So, did you ever find out who intercepted your hack?"

Leaning to the side slightly, SK gave a gentle shrug of his shoulders. "You're looking at him." He said in a deadpanned voice, as the three sets of eyes turned to T.

"How did he know you were in their system?" Jay asked this time.

"He likes to keep track of whatever Cinder and her cunts do." Tanner replied this time. "Plus, this was after he bugged the system himself."

"Can you tell us more about the virus, Black Queen, right?" Glynda continued the stream of questions, though the ones related to the virus needed to be put on hold.

"He explains it best," Tanner said as he tilted his head to T's unconscious form. "-so it'd be best if we wait for him to wake up."

Receiving a nod from Qrow and Glynda, the room fell silent for a moment, only to be broken by Mason. "Well, this is awkward." The brunette groaned in unison with the Vacuo-born rogue, but his attention was quickly grabbed by the black-haired scythe-wielder.

"One thing doesn't add up." Qrow continued suddenly. "If Mason over there massacred and destroyed one of the White Fang's most important encampments, how did Cinder still convince them to join her?"

"Out of fear." Said the brunette, taking it upon himself to explain how it happened, seeing as he knew the tactic the beauty used. "Mason inadvertently pressured Adam into joining Cinder even more by cutting his supplies and men down by a large fraction. My guess is that Cinder picked up on the idea and continued pressuring Adam until he cracked." He finished with a satisfied smirk. "It would explain why they aren't exactly on equal grounds with each other."

"So ideally, this is all Mason's fault." SK concluded.

"Bite me." Replied the redhead Faunus.

"Come on, guys." Tanner coaxed, trying to be the middle man here. "Let's just all agree that T did the most damage."

A few seconds passed before he received words of agreement from the other two, before the interrogation resumed with a question from the blonde. "So Tanner, what's your story?"

The brunette in question shrugged. "Not much to tell; I stole Dust from the 'Four Corners' Mafia and sold it to Cinder, who paid me."

"Except you never actually met with this Miss Fall?" Glynda asked, holding her Scroll close to her.

Tanner shook his head. "No, it was mostly Roman, but sometimes I would run into that asshole, Adam."

That seemed to catch Jay's interest as he bolted out of his seat. "You've met with Adam Taurus?" he said as he stared at the brunette with an intense gaze.

"Yeah…we are talking about the same Adam, right? Extremist Faunus with too much hair gel?" Tanner asked for confirmation.

The blonde nodded intently. "Yeah, same Adam. What can you tell me about him? Any particular weaknesses?"

Letting out another sigh as he felt that this interrogation was going to run in circles, Tanner shrugged his shoulders. "Probably nothing you already don't know. Look, the only interactions I've ever had with him was trading him the Dust and fighting him, that's not a lot to work from."

Jay scoffed as he continued to press on the matter with a passion. "There has to be something more you can tell us that we don't know."

"No." Tanner said in a stern voice, causing the blonde teen to send him a glare. "Dammit, why don't you just let us go?" he would've slammed his hands on the smooth, obsidian-black glass table if his hands were free. "You're only going to do more harm than good if you keep us here, might as well kill us while you're at it."

"Because you've got valuable information that we can use against Cinder." Qrow countered quickly.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you; let us go now so that we can put the information to good use, we can locate Cinder within the week if you take these fucking things off of us." He replied in a louder tone of voice as he struggled against his restraints.

"You'll only do more harm than good, from what it looks like." Glynda joined the argument, tapping something on her Scroll that caused the holo-screen to change to footage from a surveillance camera of the four of them rampaging through the streets of Vale barely a week ago.

 _Not one of my proudest moments, I'll admit._ Tanner thought as he watched himself get thrown into a car, before Mason shot a rocket at it.

"Dayum, I look good." Mason thought out loud as he watched himself rampage through the streets.

"See, it's this kind of reckless, arrogant action that contradicts what you say and how seriously you claim to take this situation." Qrow ranted as he paused the recording.

"It's this kind of reckless, arrogant action that makes us look awesome!" Mason yelled back.

"In our defense," SK started as he wriggled in his place, trying to find a comfortable sitting position. "-it's only him."

"Fuck you, mate." Mason countered, marking the start of another argument, which Tanner felt that he couldn't endure.

"Qrow, just let us out. The more time we waste, the more time Cinder has with executing the next step of her plan." The brunette rarely pleaded or begged, but he had come to terms with the fact that this wasn't a situation that he could just shout his way out of.

"And what is the next step of Cinder's plan, huh?" Qrow asked in return, standing up from his chair and resting his weight on the table by his hands.

Tanner sputtered, completely at a loss for words at the absurdity of the question. "How the fuck should I know? She never tells us anything! That's what we're trying to tell you, you bloody cunt!" he practically shouted. Whether it was the shouting or not, Tanner noticed that the table began flickering with different colored lights at random intervals, along with the holo-screen, which began to glitch with static now and again.

"This is precisely why we can't let you go!" Qrow shouted in return. "You won't tell us what your plan is, you won't tell us what Cinder's plan is,-"

"That's because we don't know what her plan is!" SK shouted in Tanner's defense. All the while, the amount of static on the screen and random flickering patterns seemed to increase, and they were only noticed by one other person.

"Uh, Qrow." Jay began in a meek voice, but the black-haired scythe wielder didn't seem to notice.

"Bullshit, you worked with her, you must have some idea of what she could be planning!" he continued.

"You're just going to have to trust us!" the orange-eyed boy continued in a less angry tone. He honestly didn't want to be enemies with the man, but if it meant protecting the rest of the world, protecting Team RWBY, then he wouldn't hesitate to destroy him where he stood.

"I can't trust you!" he yelled as he slammed his fist on the table.

"You have to! If you don't, thousands more will die!" the static and glitches were so strong now that he could hear the static in the air. They even seemed to be forming a symbol that looked an awful lot like…wait.

"Then give me a reason to trust you!" Qrow shouted, but it was partially drowned out by the sound of the static.

"Glynda, what's happening?" Jay asked right as a pulse of blue energy surged through the room. All the lights in the room suddenly flickered and died, and the sound of metal hitting the floor could be heard.

It took Tanner a couple of seconds to realize that the sound of metal came from the restraints and cuffs falling to the floor.

Reaching his hands around the table, he stared at them in awe as he turned to see that everyone had an equally stunned face. It was like a heavy silence had draped across the room, a silence broken by a thick, gravelly voice.

"If you will not trust us," all eyes were immediately on T, the man having not moved an inch. However, his head slowly rose to face Qrow as the holo-screen flickered back to life. This time, however, the screen was white except for the black symbol of an eye with a crosshair for an iris, T's symbol.

Opening his eyes for the first time since they had entered the building, the one on T's left glowed a vibrant blue, while the other was a dull brown.

"-then you'll fear us." T said as he placed his right arm on the table, causing lights to flicker to life in a straight line that led to the holo-screen. "Now, let me show you why."


	9. Chapter 4

Hitchhiking With A Plan

 **A/N: If you have a hard time picturing what T or any of the others looks like, we'll have the drawings of each of the members of MSTT posted somewhere at some point.**

 **Disclaimer: None of us here writing the story own RWBY or Rooster Teeth…we own some merch, but that's about it. All rights and legal stuff go to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, bless his soul.**

If there was one thing T despised more than anything in the world, it was slow consoles and computers. Right before the woman named Cinder Fall, it was the bane of his existence. But right now, that was beyond the point.

In this modern era, so many systems and electronic devices were linked to each other thanks to the networks Atlas established, that a good-enough hacker could take control of an entire office block by simply breaking in to one console in the building. This extended to military outposts, police stations, possibly even the Cross-Continental Transmit System if one was able to code a program that could outsmart the local intelligences in each of the towers.

The idea behind it was simple enough; create a digital worm that could imitate access codes and open up different programs, while remaining invisible to those who think they are in control of the network.

The only problem was that the viruses and worms that T created were very thoroughly programmed, and could take up to two minutes to upload onto a network.

This is how he ended up crouched behind a console in one of Atlas' long-range Relay Arrays, trying to avoid being shot by the remaining guards while waiting for his Scroll to finish tapping into the tower's mainframe.

Peeking over the edge of the console, he had to quickly duck down again as the three remaining guards fired several rounds at him. He knew it wouldn't be long until they got the sense to flank him, but by then it would already be too late.

He checked the Scroll in his right hand again and saw that the progress of the upload was at 67%, as displayed by a broken circle that would be complete once the upload was finished. Of course, there would be no way out of this without first dealing with the guards.

Covering his right eye while reloading his semi-automatic pistol, his vision went dark for a moment before the room before him was laid out in light-blue outlines and pitch-black forms. Even though he was still facing the solid metal frame of the console before him, he could clearly see the guards through it as blue outlines, detailing the communications network they were linked to as well as what type of armour and weapons they carried.

Slapping the new extended clip of bullets into his pistol, T stuck his left hand over the edge of the console – gun firmly locked in his grasp – and unloaded three bullets into one of the men, the other two scattering as the third bullet pierced the neck of their comrade.

The hacker watched as one of the Atlesian guards tried to flank the console he hid behind, only to be met with two crossbow bolts as soon as he rounded the corner, his fist clenched tightly to form the end of the crossbow while two limbs sprung up on either side as the sleeve of his overcoat fell back to give it room to transform. The bolts that were loaded from inside his wrist fired off in succession as T's arm – now in its crossbow form – rotated all the way around to fire the second bolt on the underside, which looked identical to its opposite side.

Spotting the remaining guard hiding behind another console, T decided to risk a physical confrontation and clambered over the top of the console. The guard must have heard the sound of his boots hitting the floor, for he quickly stood from his cover and emptied the clip of his pistol at T. Having broken into a sprint as soon as his feet touched the ground, T blocked each shot with his right arm as the crossbow limbs folded back into place, somehow leaving the cloth of his trench coat undamaged. He crossed the distance in a matter of seconds before smacking the gun out of the man's hand, knocking him to the floor in a single punch and finishing him off with two shots from his pistol.

Sure that the coast was clear for now, he sauntered around the console to resume what he had been doing before being interrupted by the guards, but not before finding the controls to shut the doors to the main control room.

The room was shaped much like the bridge of an Atlesian warship, with a Control Bridge with three command consoles on either side just so that the chief in charge – who was now lying dead at T's feet – didn't have to close the program he was working on to open a different program. The command consoles were used to access the various functions of the Array, as well as to control the turret defence system that was set up around the facility to protect it against trespassers and Grimm.

Below the Control Bridge, which was accessible by way of two staircases on either side of the room, were an assortment of smaller consoles that relayed any calls or messages that were being sent to it. Some called it an invasion of privacy, but Atlas had long justified this precaution to root out possible insurgency or acts that endangered the public.

A large window that encompassed the entire front wall allowed for a view of the dense forest that surrounded the Array. Staring out of it while typing away at the console, T watched as his Bullhead, Overwatch, carefully dodged the bursts and spray of lasers and explosive rounds from the facility's defence system. He had faith that the program controlling the unmanned airship could easily keep weaving in between the shots and bursts of fire that the stationary turrets sent, but he wasn't going to take that risk.

Checking his Scroll again, the virus had been successfully uploaded into the facilities mainframe, giving him access to everything connected to the Array's local network. Including the defence turrets.

Opening a program on his Scroll, he searched for the program that controlled the turret system before disabling it with the touch of a finger. The room became eerily quiet now that the constant thundering of the turrets had stopped.

With the crisis averted, T began the second phase of his plan as he walked up the staircase to the Control Bridge. While he did so, he also opened up a direct, secure link to the on-board program on Overwatch.

"Overwatch, did any distress signals leave the facility?" T asked into the Scroll in his monotonous voice.

A reply came immediately. "None, Captain Ástarsorg." Came the reply from the Overwatch, though T only heard the serene, female voice of the advanced program in his head because they transmitted directly to the implants in his brain. "Signal jammer is working at optimal performance and has successfully prevented seven outgoing signals from reaching their recipient."

"Good." T said as he placed his Scroll into the available slot on the mostly-holographic console. "Remain on sentry mode and alert me if any reinforcements arrive." He didn't wait for a response as he got to work.

Waving his right hand in front of the consoles before him, he pulled up several holographic pages, filled with endless lines of code and software that represented the vast array of knowledge that was the global network. The information before him was being processed and changing at a much faster pace than what any average person could hope to understand without needing to backtrack, but the brunette was managing just fine with what the consoles displayed.

With his cybernetic left eye, he was able to see the representations of programs and signals being sent back and forth across this intricate network of information and codes.

The experience of allowing a sudden rush of information to flood his mind used to be overwhelming for T, often causing him to black-out or give him a migraine, but after practicing for years, he could finally plug his mind into the global network without any issue.

It was all about focussing on what he wanted to know, and right now, he wanted the master controls to the facility.

They popped up on his right, but were protected by two layers of encryption. By Atlesian standards, this was very little, but it only made sense seeing as this was a small, outlying relay that wasn't being used to store anything sensitive or important.

Holding his hand out to the holograms, he started the decryption process and transferred master control directly to his Scroll in less than five seconds. The black Scroll changed from emitting a blue light to a teal-coloured one as it now had total access to everything in the facility that was wired to the local network, including the security cameras which told him that there were still two guards alive and were encroaching on the control room.

Working quickly he raised his right hand in an upwards motion, bringing up a display that contained the file for one of his greatest viruses. Next, T waved his hands at the console to his left to gain Administration-level access to the global network with the master controls. The hacker would have tried to go for Founder-level access, but since he was pressed for time and needed a more powerful array, he decided to postpone acquiring unlimited access for another day.

Gaining access to most of the data available on the global network and taking control of an Atlesian Relay Array wasn't enough, for the hacker wasn't going to stop until he controlled the _entire_ global network. Until every digital door opened when he approached and firewalls crumbled when he touched them.

That was going to be the starting point of his scheme, as he grabbed the holographic display of the file containing the virus and dragged it onto the holographic page that displayed the different network links the relay was attached to.

Once the virus was primed and ready, it was halfway across the world and in dozens of different places with the tap of an icon, in mere seconds it was riding along the signals that the relay sent out every day. It infected every device connected to the global network, a deadly splinter agent waiting for the moment to strike.

The amount of information and facilities he had access to was overwhelming, but T had prepared for this. Training his mind on government secrets, he found that there were a few things the governments of the world were keeping from their people. Secrets including lost settlements, government cover-ups, the rediscovery of the Icarus, The Dawn…the Four Maidens.

Along with access to everything except for a dozen files locked behind founder-level access clearances, the hacker also gained control over the automated and android defence systems of every Kingdom, only needing a single thought for them to turn on their creators and masters. However, that wasn't his end goal, and he had a much nobler cause in mind for those instruments of war.

An alert went off in T's mind as he noticed that the two remaining guards had crossed his proximity detector, but were still lying in wait outside of the control room. Having tapped their communications frequency, he could hear the conversation they were having amongst themselves as they decided that they would wait for him to exit the room while constantly trying to call for help. Realising that his time was short, he immediately ordered the computers to begin searching for anything on the network that included certain key words.

 _Cinder Fall, White Fang, Four Maidens…Neopolitan._

While he let one console run the search, he quickly used one of the free ones to tap into the servers and computers under Cinder that he had bugged before going rogue. He began scrolling through the information he could pull at a rate of 50 megabytes per second as she didn't seem to have found out about the bugs yet. Everything and anything that involved offensive measures against any of the Kingdoms, locations of outposts or stockpiles of assets and anything that had to do with her colleague Neo were transferred to his Scroll for further inspection. However, he froze the holo-screen with his hand as it went over a list of allies and suppliers that worked under the woman.

This was where he was going to find possible allies; amongst people on the same level as him. _I need to keep the numbers short…too many loose ends might have some of them ending back up in Cinder's hands._ T thought to himself. _Or much worse…_

He needed to examine the profiles of the possible allies to see whether they would be of any real worth, but using a filter based off filtering the list by their profiles and the tasks they were given, the brunette was easily able to narrow the list of over fifty down to eight.

Going through the remaining contenders, T also noticed that the profiles also had a new detail added to them; GAMBIT PROTOCOL: ENABLED/DISABLED

Quickly opening up a new window, T quickly searched through Cinder's cluster of files until he came across one listed under 'Gambit Protocol'. Opening it up, he found that it was a new set of orders that had been distributed to those she considered her commanding officers and gave the order to execute certain assets that were marked by it, probably once they had outlived their usefulness.

 _Looks like she doesn't want anybody else going rogue…_ T thought as he focussed his attention back onto the list of possible allies. Looking through them quickly, the hacker found that several of the Gambit Protocol for some of the assets had already been activated. This made them T's primary concerns as it would make them more likely to join with him once they knew that Cinder had already ordered their execution…if he got to them in time.

Narrowing down the list even further, he found three assets that he would have to pay a visit to. Finding them would be easy enough, it was convincing them to help him without killing them which was the real problem.

Transferring the last of the data to his Scroll, he opened up communications with Overwatch once more. "Overwatch, prepare for extraction. We're done here."

The calm, accented voice replied. "Course plotted. Please remain where you are for immediate extraction."

"Cancel that immediate extraction." T said as he pulled his Scroll out of its port. As soon as he did however, several of the consoles below began overloading and the holo-screens in front of him began flickering and fading. Several of the power outlets even burst and sputtered out sparks of electricity at an alarming rate. Every now and then, the holo-screens would also change to quickly flicker the symbol of an eye with a black crosshair across the white iris, the same symbol that was weaved on T's cap and on the back of his overcoat in silver.

"Sir?" Overwatch asked him, a mix of confusion and worry in her voice.

"Meet me out front in three minutes." He said as he checked the clip in his gun. _Twenty-three shots left…more than enough._ "I'm walking out the front door." Slapping the clip back into place, he began descending down the staircase. _There's still one last thing that needs to be done._

"I feel it is my duty as your personal Do-It-Yourself Genius to inform you that there is a significant number of Grimm approaching the facility. Should I deploy countermeasures to clear the extraction point?" asked the Ship-board Intelligence as T extended a breach charge from the palm of his hand, placing it on the door to the control room.

Taking a few steps back, he activated a holographic panel that curved around his arm before responding. "I've got it covered." The door flew outward with the force of the resounding explosion as T tapped the command to detonate the charge.

The hacker waited a moment for the smoke to clear before stepping through the open hatch, passing the two men that used to stand guard by the door. Further along the hallway, he passed numerous other corpses of the guards that had stood in his way before coming across one of the few living ones in the facility.

The guard rounded the corner – weapon drawn – with the intent to kill T, but the brunette had already drawn his weapon and fired four shots into the man, never stopping once. The shots weren't enough to kill the man, but they were enough to stagger him for T to unfold his right arm into its crossbow form and pin the man to the wall on the opposite end with a single bolt.

With his cybernetic eye, he could already see the second one hiding around the corner, his combat knife already drawn. Without folding the crossbow limbs back into place, he swung his arm around the corner as he neared it, expecting to catch the man by surprise.

However, the guard had anticipated the attack and parried it with ease. Stepping fully around the corner this time, T continued to parry and riposte the guard with his metal arm, neither side seeming to have an advantage as the guard grappled for the gun in T's left hand. Eventually, breaking away from another clash, the guard stabbed his knife into the exposed part of the hacker's right arm, lodging the blade firmly in the inner-workings of the mechanical appendage as it snapped in half.

This annoyed T to no end as he used his now-free right arm to break the guard's left arm with a solid punch to the elbow joint before backhanding him in the face with the force of a jackhammer. As the unconscious guard dropped to the floor, T began inspecting the damage done to his arm. On the outside, the only damage seemed to be that one of the limbs now stuck out at an odd angle, but when he ran a scan of the arm with his cybernetic eye, he found that the mechanisms had been more badly damaged than he anticipated.

He tried to twitch his fingers, but only his thumb and index finger responded properly to the motion. He needed to perform a recalibration, but first he needed to get the broken blade out of his arm. Grabbing the broken crossbow limb with his free hand, he yanked it out of his arm after several seconds of effort, feeling no pain. The broken blade dislodged along with it, but just as he was about to perform some recalibrations, he looked at the second – still functioning – limb and decided that it should go as well.

Second limb joining the first on the floor, T held his arm to his face as he watched the inner-mechanisms moving and sliding into place. The panels and joints on the surface of his arm also shifted to cover the space that used to house the limbs. Pulling out his Scroll for the final calibration process, he scrolled through the list of transformations he could perform in the crossbow's place, settling on a single-shot harpoon gun closely reminiscent of the crossbow.

Calibrating for a few seconds more, T eventually continued his stride as a waypoint line of light appeared in his vision, taking him to his next destination. Further repairs would be needed, but the arm worked well enough that the hacker could manage just fine without the repairs for the moment.

He arrived at the waypoint marker after a few seconds, having followed the line of light all the way to the cargo room of the Relay Array. The hacker needed to know if there was any high quality equipment or anything worth salvaging in the facility before he left. The armour and weaponry that the guards had were standard issue and could easily be found in any facility, despite being quite good in quality and functionality. However, T wasn't looking for 'quite good'; he was looking for the best.

The door opened as he approached it, and the lights inside the room flickered to life as soon as he took his first step inside it. Covering his right eye with his hand, he scanned contents of the various crates that were neatly organised on top of one another and against the walls with his left eye. With it, he could tell what was inside most of the crates as well as how it compared to his current equipment by way of several statistic charts.

Most of them were out-dated Atlesian Knight models, various heavy artillery weapons and spare airship parts that made Overwatch seem light-years ahead in development. All of which were useless to him.

Just as he was about to turn around and leave, he spotted a crate with an odd-shaped object within it. Curiosity getting the better of him, he approached the crate and activated the holographic display on it which told him the contents of the box.

It was an old Atlesian reconnaissance and attack drone, designed for long-distance manual scouting of enemy territory, praised for its sleek design and agility back during one of the wars. What differentiated it from the conventional drone was that it was based on ground movement and was built to resemble a dog, without any synthetic skin to cover its silver, metallic body.

Opening the crate, T peered into the shallow box, examining the obsolete piece of technology from the past. Neatly folded up in its retracted form to more closely resemble a warhead, T couldn't help but feel a hint of pity for the drone, left here to waste away in stasis, forgotten and useless in this modern age. For a lack of a better word; he felt that it looked lonely.

Pulling down the cloth over his mouth to let out a sigh, T came to a decision as he lifted the drone out of the box in his right hand. Carefully cradling it under his arm, he made his way to the exit of the facility, past more dead guards and scorch marks.

* * *

Upon exiting the Array station, the first thing T noticed was the increased number of Grimm along the perimeter of the facility. They immediately took note of the hacker as soon as he stepped through the front doors, the doors having made a loud hissing noise as they opened.

The Beowulves and Ursas let out loud roars and howls – likely to attract more members of their packs to assist in the kill – as they began closing in on him. Several Creeps even burrowed out of the ground at the cries of their fellow Grimm. However, the sight neither deterred nor excited T as he held the drone under his arm while holding up his Scroll in the other, maintaining his expressionless expression.

Continuing at his stroller's pace, he went through the various files and commands until he found the commands to reactivate the defence system around the Array. Quickly giving them command to only target the Grimm, he reactivated them as the first few Creeps began charging towards him.

As the turrets reactivated him, they recognised T as an Admin-level asset, and therefore focussed primarily on targetting the Grimm closest to him, while ignoring him altogether. The bi-pedal Grimm were gunned down one by one until the last one was shot in the legs, causing it to tumble to the floor.

T gave it the mercy of a parting shot to the head as he walked past it, heading to the waypoint marker that designated where he was supposed to be extracted. All around him, encroaching Grimm were blasted apart by lasers and heavy cannon fire that blew up large chunks of dirt.

In the distance, over the sound of the turrets and laser defence system going into overdrive, he could hear the roar of an engine and looked up to see his Bullhead fire a salvo of missiles at a group of Ursas in its dive, before it slowed to a hover directly above him. It slowly descended for him to step on as he gunned down a Beowulf in his peripheral vision with his pistol, doors already open before it descended.

Taking his time with getting on the airship and strapping the drone to prevent it from moving about with the safety harnesses, he hit the button to close the doors of the airship before moving into the empty pilot's seat.

"Activate manual controls." He said as he grabbed the flight-stick and pushed the throttle to full, soaring just past the large dish on top of the facility. Making sure he was far away enough and clear of Grimm, he handed the controls back over to Overwatch to take him back to their Operations Base before moving back into the passengers compartment to inspect his findings.

"We have attained safe-level altitude and it does not seem that many Nevermore Grimm have the interest of pursuing us." Overwatch reported. "Atlesian reinforcements are also several kilometres out from the facility, so it is unlikely that any of them were to have seen or tracked us."

"Good. Remain off the radar and maintain stealth, just to be sure." He replied back as he kneeled by the drone.

"So," he heard Overwatch's voice through the speaker system in the airship. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

The hacker shrugged. "Some of it. One thing's for sure though." He said as he tapped a button on the drone, bringing up its base programs. "I didn't expect to pick up an antique while I was down there."

"Is it still usable?" the voice asked, seeming genuinely curious.

Activating the drone for what must have been the first time in its life, the power-up sequence commenced as T replied. "When I'm done with _him_ , he'll do things his designers wouldn't have ever thought of."


	10. Chapter 5

The Start of A Storm

 **A/N: Firstly, I'd like to personally thank Thesaiyan21, who has been with this story since the very beginning. Seriously, we all thought that we'd only get our first Favourite or Follower after the 10** **th** **chapter, but you just had to beat my expectations and be the first one on board. Along with that, I'd also like to thank him for sending us our first OC submission ever. It really makes me excited and I hope some of you send more OCs in later on. Also, feel free to check out Thesaiyan21's account and stories. He writes a lot of cross-overs and I'm sure he won't mind me writing this Author's Note.**

 **Also, don't forget to review and favourite if you like the story, it's very encouraging for us! And be sure to check in every Monday and Friday, as that is often when a new chapter comes up. Oh, almost forgot about this chapter, let's get to it!**

* * *

 **Two Nights After The Iron Column Break-In…**

The worst thing you could do when walking into a deal with a group of fanatical extremists was, well…there's a lot that you could do. However, the worst feeling that you could feel walking into the same deal was fear. If you felt scared or threatened by them, then they will notice it and capitalise upon it; making you crack under their pressure and bend to their will. This is why this lifestyle is not for the faint of heart.

Having done this kind of thing before, Tanner felt absolutely no fear walking into these kinds of deals. He gave one-third of the credit for that to his fighting capabilities, another third to how his grandparents had trained him to perform deals like this, and another third to himself for just being a slick badass.

The swordsman handled the controls of the Bullhead with a steady hand as he gently touched down on the grassy patch of ground in the clearing where he was supposed to be meeting up with a representative who would buy his Dust.

Since he signed the contract with Roman, this was how he spent most of his days; stealing as much Dust as he could from the Four Corners' outposts in Mistral before selling it off to Roman for a generous amount of Lien.

This time, however, Roman had given him the heads up that someone would be collecting the Dust in his stead, and that they were a member of the radical White Fang group. All in all, he had warned Tanner to be careful. Not that he was too concerned.

The Atlas-born swordsman had his own fair share of run-ins with the White Fang, as for some reason he often intercepted the same Schnee Dust convoys as the group. Those few encounters often led to very heated, aggressive negotiations over who laid claim to the convoy's treasure; often resulting in weapons having to be drawn.

This time, he at least hoped that they could talk first before they began trying to split each other's throat open.

"Hey, have you been listening to me?" he snapped out of his thoughts as a soft hand gently shook him by the shoulder.

He turned to the co-pilot seat to see the beautiful brunette who had been helping him for the past few days and who he had unwillingly fallen for. Her deep blue eyes shone brightly even though the sky had darkened hours ago and she gave a soft smile as her hand dropped back down to her side.

Letting out a sigh, Tanner shook his head. "Sorry Hannah; I was too busy thinking of how hot you look. Could you repeat yourself?"

Blushing profusely, she gently punched him in the shoulder. "Stop playing mind games with me!"

Laughing lightly, Tanner continued even though he was short of breath. "I can't help it; your reaction is too cute."

"How am I supposed to be mad at you when you say things like that?" she muttered to herself as she squirmed in her seat.

"You're not." Tanner replied as he leaned over to give her a side hug. "Seriously though. What did you say; I wasn't listening."

This time, the brunette girl was the one to sigh as her slightly irritated – slightly flustered – face turned to a frown. "It's stupid. I just…I got a bad feeling about this deal."

Pulling back slightly to look into her eyes, he asked the burning question that he had asked a dozen times prior. "Do you not want to talk in my place? I just thought that it'd go smoother if they talked to a Faunus. But, if you feel uncomfortable about it-"

"No." she cut him off, wriggling out of the hug. "No, it's just…I don't know."

Putting his lips to her cheek for a chaste kiss, he began unbuckling himself from the pilot seat as soon as he pulled away. "If you don't know what's wrong, then let's go along with it until we do. Besides," he paused to flash his companion a smile. "-I'll have your back no matter what."

She smiled in return as she bounded out of her seat to give him a proper hug. "Thanks, babe." She whispered into his ear in that one tone of voice which he had become rather…accustomed to.

"Now get your ass moving. We still need to get paid." He said with a playful slap just below her Faunus beaver tail. In compliance, she began moving to the open hatch of the airship they were in, but not before sending a wink over her shoulder to Tanner.

Shaking his head, he got up to fulfil his end of their partnership by unbuckling the crates of Dust that were carefully harnessed to the ship, both on the inside and on the surface of the hull. After unfastening and pushing the last crate that was kept inside the Bullhead out of the airship, he got to work on the crates that had been both magnetically locked to the airship's hull and strapped on with firm harnesses, as a precaution. All the while, he took in the sight of the White Fang camp that they had landed in.

The poor observer and mathematician as he was, the brunette was only able to roughly estimate how well-armed the men at the camp were. If their equipment perimeter guards carried was anything to go by, then the duo shouldn't have too much trouble if the entire camp decided to turn on them.

Although, he didn't take into account the chances of a possible attack by the Grimm – having to rarely deal with the creatures while operating within the borders of Atlas. However, ever since he started operating in Mistral, he found that the creatures could be more troublesome than he originally thought.

Other than an unusually high number of guards, the White Fang camp comprised of a few wooden tents lit by a few wooden torches and a flagpole that waved the White Fang's insignia in the cold darkness of the night, set right in front of a small bonfire. A pair of Bullheads was also situated behind the camp – opposite to the Bullhead Tanner had flown in on.

Pulling up the end of his scarf over his face, he eyed the figure that stepped forward when Hannah began asking for the person in charge of the camp. A tall, crimson-haired Faunus with a pair of horns on his head stepped forward. He wore a black trench coat with several red and white patterns in the shape of flowers on them, along with a pair of black trousers and black boots. The Grimm masks the White Fang so often used covered most of his face, leaving only the lower half of his face visible. What stood out about the mask was that unlike the generic plain, bone-white masks that the others wore, his was decorated with red patterns – indicating his position as a high-ranking member in the group.

 _Why does everybody's colour scheme for clothes_ _nowadays_ _have to be_ _a_ _black trench coat and_ _a pair of_ _black trousers…?_ Tanner mused to himself. _It's like they can't come up with anything original lately…_ He thought as he straightened his jacket out of habit.

He couldn't hear what the man and Hannah were talking about, but from the looks of it, the conversation had seemed to slowly change from actual negotiations about the Dust to the Faunus flirting with his girlfriend.

The sight of the White Fang member running his hand through his companion's shoulder-length brown hair made his blood boil, and he immediately stopped from handling a crate of Dust to march right over to the two.

"Come now, I'm sure that once you see what the White Fang is capable of, you'll change your mind." He heard the White Fang leader say as he approached.

"I'm flattered, really. But I like my job the way it is." He heard Hannah rush the words out of her mouth as she gently pushed the older man's hand away from her face.

"I can assure you; the White Fang can offer so much more." He continued as he took a step forward, causing the beaver Faunus to take an involuntary step backwards.

"Hey, asshole!" Tanner called out from where he stood. "She said 'no'. So back the fuck off!"

The red-haired Faunus turned to regard Tanner with a snarl. "Who do you think you are; telling her who she can and can't be?" he snapped back.

"Who do you think you are to tell me how to treat my partner?" he shouted right back, putting one hand on Crossed Star as he stared down the Faunus with a glare. The White Fang leader seemed intent on drawing his katana as well, but was stopped when Hannah stepped in between them.

"Alright, enough!" the brunette yelled as she looked back and forth between the two. "Tanner, Adam," she turned to the respective individual as she said their names. "-there is no need for violence. We'll just sell you the Dust, forget this ever happened, and be on our way."

There was a brief pause as neither side seemed to want to back down, causing most of the White Fang guards on duty to take notice of the scene playing out and leave their post to support their leader. Still, Tanner was not fazed by the challenge and remained in his combat stance, free hand now on Beofield as well.

After what felt like several hours of the suspenseful stand-off, the Faunus – Adam – eventually lowered his hand, chuckling under his breath. "You're either really foolish or really brave. Probably a mix of both."

Tanner lowered his arms to his side in turn, though the glare never left his features. "Yeah, yeah. Keep talking." The blood still hot under his skin, he could feel his Aura causing the scarf he wore to heat up.

Turning on the heel of his boot and acting like nothing happened, Adam began sauntering back towards his camp. "Finish unloading your Dust and get out of here. I never want to see your face again." He said over his shoulder with the wave of a hand, but not before muttering a single word under his breath. "Humans."

The swordsman was about to retort, but Hannah quickly put a hand over his mouth and gave him a stern glare that told him that he would suffer dearly if he said what she thought he was going to say.

After physically relaxing, he gestured for the girl to follow him towards the unloaded crates of Dust. "I thought you asked me to speak in your place to _avoid_ something like this from happening." Hannah spoke irritably through gritted teeth as she followed two paces behind the swordsman.

"Sorry." He whispered sarcastically. "I just…didn't like the way he was talking to you."

"I'm pretty sure he was only interested in recruiting me to their 'Cause'." The brunette Faunus said as she tried her hardest to carry a single crate to the camp, which she was only able to do with Tanner's help. "Besides, I can take care of myself, remember?" Hannah said as she patted the serrated knuckles she left dangling by a key ring on her belt.

"I know you can. It doesn't mean that I don't worry about you." Tanner finished with a soft frown as they finished carrying the crate to the front of the camp. "Grab that one over there, it's lighter." He said as he turned and began walking towards another crate, not giving his girlfriend a chance to protest or respond.

He continued to move several more crates of Dust to the front of the White Fang camp, where a pair of White Fang hands would then take the crate further into the camp. It was only when Tanner and Hannah had to face the problem of moving the larger containers that they couldn't keep inside of the Bullhead and had to strap them to the exterior hull did he give pause to catch his breath.

"I really hope…the guys here…have the equipment to help us move these things." Tanner said in between breaths to the Faunus standing next to him. The crates stood at roughly a metre tall in height and had to be at least five metres long, while weighing a ton.

"Maybe…if I go flirt with Adam again he'll help us." Hannah jeered, out of breath.

"Do that and you can find your own way back to the Kingdom borders."

"I'm sure Adam will be more than willing to give me a ride back."

Turning away to stretch his back a little, Tanner replied. "That's deserves a bowchickabowwow for sure." However, as he turned his head, he saw a shadowy figure casually walk along the perimeter of the clearing towards the camp. For some reason, as the brunette stared at the figure – who seemed to have not taken note of him yet, he felt an ominous and cold feeling down the back of his spine.

"Please don't. If you say that word one more time I-"

"Han, did you see that?" Tanner cut her off as he turned the girl in the direction he was facing.

The Faunus girl just barely caught a glimpse of the figure as he disappeared behind a tent, passing right by an oblivious guard. The two shared a look for a moment before Hannah spoke up.

"Who was that?" the brunette asked as she turned her head back to where they had last seen him.

"Don't know. He didn't look like White Fang, though." Tanner mumbled, mostly to himself.

"C'mon," Hannah urged the dark brunette forward by pulling on his hand. "let's go see what he's up to."

Unwillingly letting his feet follow the girl, they slowly crept to where they had last seen the mysterious figure. Honestly, he wasn't that eager to know what the figure was up to. He could be anything ranging from a wanderer who got lost to a spy from one of the other Kingdoms.

However, as they leaned around the edge of the tent and watched the figure from a distance, Tanner could feel the lingering chill in his spine again. More so when one of the White Fang guards approached him, weapon raised to shoot him if necessary, only to drop to the floor like a lifeless corpse when the stranger waved his hand in front of face.

The brunette swordsman continued to stare wide-eyed at the back of the man as he continued to walk along nonchalantly, before he turned to face Hannah, who had a similar expression of disbelief.

"Did you see that?" she shrieked in a whisper. "He didn't even touch the guy!"

"Ok, now I'm curious." Tanner grumbled as he bolted out from behind the tent and after the stranger.

"Tanner, wait!" he heard Hannah whisper for him, he didn't listen as he quickly crouched over to body to check for a pulse. To his surprise, the Faunus was still breathing and very much alive. Looking about, he found that none of the other guards had noticed their fallen friend, and he hoped that it would remain that way in case they decided to put the blame on the only Human in the camp.

Following behind the man at a crouch, he noticed that the mysterious figure wearing an overcoat was making a beeline for the two Bullheads that still laid quiet across the camp.

Tanner was almost tempted to alert the rest of the camp to the intruders presence in order to prevent another fiasco from starting.

Almost…

 _Seriously, what have the White Fang ever done for me?_ The swordsman thought rhetorically as he crept a few paces behind the stranger, before abruptly stopping as the man stopped in front of one of the Bullheads.

"The hell is he up to?" Tanner mused to himself as he watched the figure in the overcoat seem to extend something out of his gauntleted right hand before placing it on the hull of the Bullhead.

"We should go warn Adam." Hannah whispered to him, but it was already too late as the brunette rose from his cover and began his approach to the man. Groaning to herself quietly, the brunette Faunus followed short. "He never listens."

"Hey!" Tanner called out, causing the stranger to freeze in his place. "What do you think you're doing?" his left hand quickly found its way to his triple-barrel pistol's hilt as the man slowly turned around.

Most of his face was covered by a brown cap with a silver symbol of an eye with a crosshair through the iris, and a dark blue face scarf, tattered and worn from use. One of the first things he picked up on was that one of the stranger's eyes was glowing a vibrant blue, while the other was a dull brown.

The intruder's face went through several different emotions, from surprise to rage, eventually settling back on surprise.

And then, he said something that caused Tanner to freeze.

"Tanner Vermillion." He called out quietly in a gravelly voice. The swordsman froze at the mention of his own name, but it was only temperamental as the surprise wore off.

"How do you know my name?"

"There isn't much time. You have to come with me." The stranger spoke as he took a step forward, causing Tanner to draw Crossed Star and point it directly at the man before him. Hannah had also drawn her weapons and was standing in a boxer's ready stance.

"Take another step and I'll blow a hole right through your chest." Tanner threatened as he put both hands on the hilt of his flintlock pistol.

"Listen to me." The man spoke as he outstretched his right arm. Now that Tanner was closer and the sleeve of his overcoat fell back, he could see that the arm was actually made of metal. "You and your girlfriend are going to die if you don't do as I say."

By this point, Tanner was at a loss for what was going on. However, just as he was about to respond, the sound of someone clearing their throat could be heard over the still night and crackling fires from behind them.

The stranger's gaze became colder as he focussed on the source of the voice. The two brunettes slowly turned around at the same time to see the Adam standing a short distance away from them with several guards aiming their weapons at the three of them.

"I should have known you'd be working with the traitor." Adam growled as he drew his blood-red sword out of its sheath. "Humans really do stick together no matter what." He chuckled with a tinge of malice.

Now Tanner was really at a loss. "Wait, you know him?" he asked as he pointed his pistol at the stranger. "And you think I'm with him?" he asked sceptically.

"Wow, he's smarter than I thought." Adam said over his shoulder to his men, causing them to laugh at his bad joke while Tanner internally swore that he would cause the Faunus infertility.

"Oh come on." Hannah groaned. "That's a load of bull-"

Before she got a chance to finish what she was trying to say, the cyborg in the overcoat extended a metal disc out of his palm and flung it at Adam, right in between the two brunettes.

Seeming to have anticipated the attack, the bull Faunus quickly raised his sword to slice the disc in half, both halves falling harmlessly to the floor. There was a moment when Tanner thought – and hoped – that the disc would explode, but after a second ticked by and Adam started chuckling to himself, Tanner knew that it was probably just an ordinary disc.

"Is that really the best you can do?" mocked the Faunus as the stranger took a step closer to Tanner.

"Do your thing." He whispered as he half-waved one hand in the direction of one of the halves.

"What thing?" the swordsman hissed back.

"You know, your…ugh. Forget it."

"Kill them." He heard Adam order as he sheathed his katana and pointed the shotgun-end of his sheath at Tanner. However, as the White Fang goons started to raise their weapons, they were immediately knocked off their feet by a series of explosions from behind them.

Adam was one of the few that were able to catch themselves before they fell, quickly turning around to find out what had exploded, only to scowl to himself as he found that his command tent was one of the few to have exploded.

"Run!" Tanner heard the stranger yell as he bolted directly towards Adam. The brunette was more than surprised at how the cyborg was able to block a blow from the Faunus' katana with just his robot arm.

He was suddenly pulled out of his stupor when he felt Hannah pull on his arm as she broke into a sprint. "Let's get out of here!"

Tanner eventually found the feeling and energy in his legs again as he quickly overtook the Faunus as they made mad dash straight through the White Fang camp, dodging fire left and right while dealing their own doses of pain. Hannah was able to weave in between attacks while delivering a flurry of razor-enhanced punches to several of the White Fang guards while Tanner unloaded shot into anyone he could see.

After a quick skirmish, they were clear of the camp and had the Bullhead in sight, though cries from the camp to use Ice Dust to put out the flames caused Tanner to slow down and turn around, taking note of how the White Fang were quickly taking advantage of the Dust he had left on their doorstep.

The sight agitated the swordsman to the point where his face was twitching ever so slightly. If there was one thing he absolutely hated, it was when he saw clients get grabby with his goods before they had paid him.

"Tanner! What's the hold up?" he was distracted from his thoughts by the brunette Faunus calling out to him from the hatch of the Bullhead.

It was a moment of split-second decision making, and the swordsman hoped he made the right call.

"I'm not leaving without the Dust."

* * *

T was sent backwards forcefully into one of the tents in the White Fang camp by a high-kick from Adam straight into his chest. This was one of the things he was worried the most about when he started planning his little uprising against Cinder exactly one and a half weeks ago. Alone, the woman was quite dangerous as she was, but wasn't invincible either. He had proved that before when he exploited a hidden weakness in her otherwise impervious defence.

No, what worried T was that Cinder had surrounded herself with powerful allies during the time that he had known her and even more after he had turned his back on her. He knew all of them by name, having catalogued and indexed them for Cinder, but one figure he was particularly worried about was Adam Taurus.

The hacker didn't have enough time to create a complete index on the Faunus, but from what he was able to get, Adam Taurus was not an opponent to be taken lightly. Calculating his chances as they were, T knew that he wouldn't be able to kill the Faunus without calling in Overwatch for aerial support.

Even then, T wasn't willing to risk losing his main means of transportation and aerial superiority over the Faunus.

Climbing through the hole in the tent that he had made, the hacker silently stared down Adam as he readjusted his cap to more effectively cover his face while providing him the visibility he needed.

"Cinder's put a very large bounty on your head," Adam spoke as he flicked his sword to his side. "-and I intend to collect it. A fitting end for a traitor like you." The whole time, T remained silent, only shifting his stance to coil the muscles in his leg for a dash straight at the Faunus while his left hand found his pistol.

In response, Adam held his katana in front of him with both hands in a ready position, waiting for T to strike first.

He only needed to buy Tanner Vermillion enough time to escape, and then he could torch Adam and the rest of the camp.

Dashing forward in a burst of speed, T went for a right hook, but the attack was blocked by Adam's sword. However, T didn't give up his assault, and followed through with the punch by sliding his arm down the length of the sword's blade. He then followed up the attack with a backhand as Adam tried to stab him while he was vulnerable, batting the blade away.

With the twisting motion of the backhand, the hacker drew his pistol and quickly fired off half a dozen shots straight at the Faunus, the sound of the bullets were muffled by a silencer he had attached to the end of the barrel.

All six shots were either deflected or sliced in two by Adam's masterful swordsmanship. It would only be a matter of time before T found a flaw in the Faunus' technique, though it could take some time.

Being able to record and playback anything he saw was more of a gift than he originally thought it to be, having analysed the flaws in most of the opponents he has faced. Everyone's technique lacked in something – he was no exception. All T did that they didn't was recognise it and develop a way to exploit it after a single encounter.

Right now though, he was still in the recording process as Adam knocked the gun out of his hand with the slash of his sword, narrowly saving his fingers with his Aura.

He needed to cover his left flank as fighting the man with one arm left the other side open to attack. That was why he came prepared.

Blocking several upward and diagonal slashes from the Faunus with his right arm, T drew the harpoon he kept strapped to his back with his left hand and used it to riposte another slash from the katana, while transforming his metal hand into an automatic pistol to take a few shots at the two guards that were approaching to help their leader.

They both dropped dead by the seventh bullet, but by doing so he had given Adam the time to take up his finishing stance – sheathing his sword only to fire it out with the added propulsion of a shotgun blast – that sent T flying backwards as he barely brought his right arm in front of him to block the attack.

Flipping backwards in mid-air, he stopped his fall by placing his feet and right arm on the ground, tearing up grass and dirt as he was sent skidding.

Looking down at his arm to examine the damage, he found a large gash had formed across the surface of his arm, indenting the battle-worn metal. _No, this isn't a fight I can win with hand-to-hand combat. Nor can I shoot my way out of this. No…I need something that hits him from all sides._ The hacker contemplated as he panted heavily. However, it wasn't time for that yet, so he had to settle for what he had on hand.

Righting himself, he watched as Adam chuckled to himself while shaking his head. "You know, I honestly expected Cinder's engineering genius to have brought something more than a spear to fight me."

T took it for what it was; a challenge. Calibrating his right arm to take into account the damage that had been dealt, he transformed the end of it into the shape of a harpoon gun and slotted the harpoon into barrel. This caused Adam to right himself and put one hand to the hilt of his katana as the harpoon begun to spin within the barrel.

"It's not a spear." He said, taking aim. "It's a harpoon."

The barbed projectile launched out of the barrel at tremendous speed, all the while spinning to burrow deep into wherever it landed. Unfortunately, Adam was quick on the draw as he unsheathed his sword right in front of him to intercept the projectile.

Fortunately, T had taken the liberty of filling the head of the harpoon with unstable Fire Dust. Satisfaction was the only word to come to T's mind as the harpoon exploded right in Adam's face, sending him backwards and skidding across the ground.

That gave T about twenty seconds to find one Tanner Vermillion and get them both off the ground before he got Overwatch to spray fire all over the camp.

Shortly after recovering his pistol, T found the Dust dealer in no time. Dashing between the flaming tents and dodging bullets that the White Fang fired at him, T soon saw Tanner fighting for his life by several crates of Dust, seeming to be defending them from any White Fang goon dumb enough to get too close to them.

T carefully slipped to the swordsman's side while he opened up the guard of a White Fang goon before blasting him backwards at point blank range with his triple-barrelled flintlock pistol. Apparently, he had sensed the hacker's presence as he immediately spun on the ball of his foot to bring his sword down in an overhead smash.

The hacker saw the attack coming and stepped to the side before grabbing the man's sword arm with his right hand while he put his pistol to Tanner's chin with his left. The brunette swordsman responded by placing the barrel of his pistol to T's chest, locking them both into a stand-off.

Barely two seconds passed before T slowly lowered his pistol, realising that Tanner did not have the intent to kill him, but would if he had to. "Come with me if you want to live." He spoke in a whispered voice.

"If you want to help me get out of here, then we do it on my terms." Tanner replied in the same tone of voice, the flaming tents reflected their bright-orange fire in Tanner's equally orange eyes.

"There's no time for that." T said as he released his hold on Tanner's sword arm. "We need to get out of here before-"

The brunette hacker was cut off by a low-pitch howl from across the clearing. Both of them turned their heads to see an encroaching pack of Beowulves.

Another growl from directly opposite the Beowulves caused them to turn around to see a group of Ursa, with something much bigger tearing through the forests behind them.

"Shit-biscuit." Tanner cursed as he faced the Beowulves while T faced the Ursas. "Alright, if you've got a good extraction plan, I'd like to hear it."

"My airship will take too long to reach here. We'll take yours." T said as he transformed his right arm into its automatic pistol mode."

Firing off two shots at the Beowulves to slow their approach, Tanner spoke over his shoulder. "And what do I get for saving your life?"

Throwing another explosive charge at the Ursas, T spun the man around and held his shoulder tightly. "Listen! The people who hired you are going to kill you, and you won't be able to beat them without my help."

The brunette wasn't sure what kind of response he should have expected from the swordsman, but he definitely did not expect the sucker punch that Tanner threw at him. It was apparently enough to make him lose his grip on Tanner's shoulder and allow him to slip away.

He made a dash for his Bullhead, with T hot on his heels. However, they both stopped as they closed in on one of the opened hatches. Inside the Bullhead, Tanner's companion – who T identified as Hannah Cobalt of Mistral – was locked in a fight with Adam.

Wearing her serrated knuckles she delivered punch after punch straight into Adam, while ducking and dodging the swipes that the bull Faunus sent her way in the enclosed space.

Eventually, after having delivered a low punch to Adam's stomach, she wasn't able to react in time as Adam caught her arm and drove his katana all the way through her mid-section, slicing outwards to sever a large portion of her lower half.

He kicked the injured Faunus out of the airship as it began to take flight, likely because someone else was piloting it. As she dropped to the ground, T only needed one look to know that she would not survive her injuries.

Still, Tanner gave a cry of fury and anguish as he dove for the Faunus, only to be blasted back by a shotgun gauge. The doors shut just as T threw a small tracker on the end of the airship, which sped away into the night as he cursed himself internally for letting Adam slip away. He hadn't expected Adam to be here, but now he would always account for the possibility that Adam was in the camp whenever he raided a White Fang encampment, just in case.

More Grimm were now approaching the clearing, making the area more and more dangerous by the second. Approaching the downed swordsman, T could clearly hear him crying as he buried his face into the ground. T understood that he needed a moment to grieve, but they didn't have time for such a luxury right now.

The hacker quickly sent a message to Overwatch in his head. " _Target: Acquired. Danger Level: High. Require immediate extraction. Use lethal force if necessary."_ He concluded the message just as a Beowulf pounced at him from behind. T ducked under the overhead swipe before delivering an uppercut into the Beowulf's face. A sharp pain ran down T's back as he felt another phantom pain in his arm, but still had enough sense in him to step on the Grimm's neck before pulverizing its head with several solid punches. Once he was sure that the Grimm was dead and its body began to dissipate, he clenched his right shoulder, which was still flesh and bone before approaching Tanner, who was still sobbing on the ground.

In the upper-right corner of his vision, he could see the countdown to when Overwatch would arrive, and decided that they needed to move quickly to be in position for it to land, pick them up and get away in one slick movement.

"There's no time." T spoke loudly and clearly, which clearly registered to Tanner as he immediately stopped crying. Suddenly, he shot to his feet, hands firmly grasping the hilts of his weapons as his expression was that of a crazed murderer.

"You-" he screamed, but was cut off as T waved his left arm in front of his face and his body dropped to the ground – his Semblance, Pacification, working its magic yet again. T would use the Semblance more often to solve _all_ of his problems, but they often took a mental strain on him the longer he kept someone under its effects, something he couldn't afford right now.

The Grimm had now formed a perimeter around the two as T injected a tranquilizer into Tanner's shoulder before slinging the boy over his shoulder, the Grimm eyeing them like crippled prey. Now that he could drop his Semblance, he could see the Grimm around him more clearly. In his sweep of the perimeter, he also realised that the corpse of Hannah Cobalt still lay a few feet away, still out of the Grimm's reach.

T was tempted to bring it along with him, as a symbol of good faith to Tanner, but he didn't have the agility or strength to drag them both on his airship.

He also took a moment to spare a glance at the White Fang camp, which was now being overrun by Grimm. If there were still some survivors trying to hold their ground, the explosives that Overwatch had would make sure they didn't leave.

T looked over them with a nonchalant expression as he began painting targets in his mind for Overwatch to see while shooting at any that got too close with his silenced pistol. The countdown in his vision had finally ticked down to zero as he heard the roar of engines from above.

Missiles and large-calibre bullets rained down on the Grimm, causing them to scatter or die as Overwatch pulled its nose up for a smooth dive that they had already coordinated. T was to take a running start, placing his feet the correct distances apart as the airship flew right in front of him with the doors open for him to jump into. After that, it would drop some seismic charges to tear apart the camp, the forest and the Grimm.

That was how it looked in the Sim that played in T's mind, and that's exactly how it looked in real life as the doors to the Bullhead slowly slid shut.

 **A/N: Sorry for the inconsistent updates, but life finally caught up to me. I don't think I'll be able to post for a few months, so you shouldn't expect any soon…kidding! Check back this Friday! Until then, have a wonderful day.**


	11. Chapter 6

Fan the Smoulders

 **A/N: The further we delve into the story, the more references to my own extended Universe I'll be making. Even some people reading RWBY: The DAWN won't get it, but we'll come to that once we reach a steady pace for MSTT. Both stories are actually going to be written side-by-side, so if I stop writing MSTT to continue DAWN, it's because that there is something in DAWN that is going to be important in MSTT.**

 **I'm not trying to get more people to follow DAWN (Though that would be nice), all I'm saying is that the stories are connected, and better understood when read together.**

 **Disclaimer: I wish Monty could see how far RWBY has gone…I-I mean, I don't own RWBY or any portion of Rooster Teeth, only to OC's and extended Universe…until RT makes it Canon, right Miles? All rights go to Monty Oum and RT respectively.**

 **One day later…**

Tanner had never woken up with such a bad headache before. It was like his last drunken brawl times by six, which involved bare-wrestling someone who could shoot fire. _Heh,_ _that was a hell of a ni_ _…argh, my head!_

However, the headache quickly cleared with no strange side-effects or deliriousness, and the brunette was able to take in his surroundings.

The first thing he looked for were his weapons, which leaned against the white, plaster wall directly in front of the bed he was in. The bed was the second thing he noticed, white, comfy sheets that hadn't been drawn over him in a single bed. Aside from a wooden cupboard to his left, a window to his right, and a table lamp and bedside table to his left again, the room was completely empty.

From how dark it was, Tanner could tell that it was still night time…or had he slept through the entire day?

That was when something clicked in the swordsman's mind. _This isn't my room! Where the hell am I? Ok, think back. What's the last thing you remember?_ He asked himself as he shut his eyes tightly to concentrate. _Uh, I was at a White Fang camp to trade Dust, and I was with-_

That was when his eyes shot open and he felt his heart stop in his chest.

 _Hannah._

Now the memories began flooding back to him, but he didn't want to remember them. The moment he saw Hannah fighting Adam, the moment he stabbed her through the torso, the moment he kicked her off the airship like she was a piece of trash; they all came back to him.

Tanner had to put a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound of him crying as tears streaked down his face. He lay back down on the bed as he allowed himself to sob away, completely forgetting about the world around him as he mourned the loss of his lover.

 _Hannah…Sweet Hannah…Oh, please no..._

Then, a spark of hope revealed itself, as he bolted out of bed and wiped the tears from his face. _What if it was just a dream? What if she didn't die…but she's just hurt really badly?_ He thought as he focussed on his last thoughts before passing out. He then remembered the mysterious stranger who he had run into, and who he last saw right before feeling a great weight in his mind and falling to the ground, like his brain simply would not put in the effort to remain conscious.

Moving over to the window, Tanner peered out at the city before him. He noticed that he was in a high-rise apartment building, and by the geography of the city, he was still in Mistral. Just…a different district to where he was used to.

He continued to stare out the window, trying to find any familiar landmarks while familiarising himself with the feeling of the apartment he was in. Through his time with the thieves and assassins that lurked in the shadows of Atlas, he had learned how to slowly spread his Aura like a fog, covering everything. This was often done by thieves to sense whether the building they were trying to infiltrate had occupants and if they were still conscious, though it left the thief vulnerable to attack while they focussed all their attention on spreading out their Aura.

He hadn't spent enough time to learn exactly how to tell whether an Aura signature was conscious or not, but he had learned enough that he knew the feeling that he would get if his Aura sensed another.

Not having to stretch very far, his Aura soon detected the presence of another in the apartment. They weren't moving much, but they seemed active. Thinking that it must have been the stranger, Tanner withdrew his Aura back to him before moving to pick up his weapons. He approached the door and finally noticed that there was light flittering through the edges of the door. It wasn't a dull light, rather it was momentarily blinding.

Testing the doorknob, the door opened without a creak. He had to squint at the intensity of the light that washed over him, unprepared for how bright the light would actually be, he shielded his eyes with Crossed Star, before he noticed that his scarf hung around the doorknob on the opposite side of the door.

Tanner picked it up and slung it around his neck, tying it in a secure knot. The warmth that radiated off the garment provided a comfort for him as his eyes scanned the rest of the apartment. It was semi-circular in shape, with different doors leading off to different rooms on the opposite side of the semi-circle. Most of the curved wall was taken up by a wide window that led out to a small balcony. It looked quite generic, the one thing that stood out the most being the crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling, seeming to hold the apartment together. The kitchen was on Tanner's side of the semi-circular apartment, while the opposite side – which was glowing different shades of blue and turquoise – was blocked from his view by a wall. Tanner was tempted to just bolt out the door, but he decided to see what was emitting the light, seeing as there didn't seem to be anyone else in the apartment at the moment.

Pressing himself up against the wall, Tanner peered over the edge and felt his eyes widen at the sight of what he saw. All against the wall were several CPU processors the size of coffee tables and wide computer monitors that shined different shades of blue light on the sole figure that stood in front of them.

The figure was standing up, surrounded by various holographic displays and consoles on all sides. He was the same stranger from before, dressed exactly like how Tanner remembered. The swordsman continued to watch him for a few more seconds as he moved holograms about with his hands while looking back and forth from one computer screen to the other, until he spoke up.

"I know you're there." Tanner visibly tensed at the words, but felt that there was no point in hiding, and no point in fighting. _Let's be fair; if he wanted me dead, I'd already be dead._ He thought as he rounded the corner.

"Where am I?" Tanner just asked the first question that came to mind, though they were starting to form a queue in his mind.

"My base of operations." The cyborg replied, not having turned around or acknowledge Tanner's presence.

"Who are you?" Tanner followed up the statement almost immediately.

"T."

"Tee? What the fuck kind of name is Tee?" Tanner felt that he was being played with, so he took a step forward, sword pointed straight at the man as he finally turned around. The holograms around him disappeared as he did, making his features more clear in plain light. "Why did you bring me here?" he demanded.

He could now see more clearly that T also wore hunter-green shirt underneath his brown overcoat, as well as a pair of brown trousers that completely covered him save his hands. Along with that, he also had a pair of shiny-black sneakers that reached his ankles and a single fingerless glove that covered his Human hand.

T let out a sigh as he reached into his back-pocket. "I already told you; your boss is trying going to kill you, and I want to help you." He said as he held a Scroll in his hand. "I downloaded the details on it."

Tanner's eyes widened when he realised why the Scroll looked familiar. "What the fuck did you do to my Scroll?" he asked as he snatched the device from T's hand and opened it up to check whether all of his data was still intact.

"Along with copying some of the profiles and data I collected, I also modified it so that functions at twice the regular capacity with an increased battery life." Tanner did notice that the Scroll unlocked and functioned a lot smoother, but he needed to know if- "I also deleted all of your pornographic material."

Tanner's head snapped back to face T at break-neck speed and his face turned to one of pure fury. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled.

"We don't have time to mess around. It was ineffectively taking up data storage that will be absolutely useful for what's ahead." The cyborg stated as a holographic wall of light separated the two. "Also, you're into some very…unique genres." He remarked, off-handed.

"I never asked you to look through my…classified content. That's your own fault." Tanner yelled angrily as he flicked through the different programs on his Scroll to see that they were all still there, only to end up with the photo gallery open.

Staring at some of the photos he took, he was reminded of the one thing that was bugging him the most. "Where is she?" he asked barely above a whisper, Tanner's orange eyes never leaving the photo he took of Hannah and him.

What felt like hours passed before T responded. "I'm sorry."

That was the moment when Tanner felt his heart stop and his breath hitch. _She's gone…_ He slowly looked away from the photo to see the cyborg step through the holographic wall, a sombre characteristic to his eyes as he lowered the scarf around his mouth. "S-she…" The swordsman could barely say what was on his mind, the tears threatening to spill at any moment as he choked back a sob.

He tried his best to hide his watery eyes by wiping his face with his scarf, which now felt cold and did not radiate heat. "I-I need to see her body. I n-need to pay her respect."

"There wasn't enough time to get you both out. Grimm had already overrun the camp, and I couldn't carry you both." T simply replied. Tanner soaked in every word as his sorrow turned to white-hot fury.

"You left her there!" he screamed in rage as the grip around his sword tightened. Without another word, he lunged forward with the intent of driving two dozen holes through the man's body. However, right before he reached T, the cyborg held out his Human hand and Tanner felt a great weight in his mind again, collapsing to the floor and passing out.

* * *

The passage of time was unknown to Tanner as he woke up what felt like seconds after he had blacked out, only to find himself sitting in a wooden chair – weapons on the ground next to him, with T standing in front of him, surrounded by various holographic projections.

By now, the sight of the cyborg did not send Tanner into a blind rage anymore, but he was still angry at the man. "What the fuck did you do to me?" the swordsman grumbled as he rubbed his temples.

"You would not listen, so I had to knock you out." T said as he closed the holographic projections around him.

"You know what they call feeding your corpse to a Grimm back in the criminal underworld?" Tanner asked rhetorically, changing the pace of the conversation. "It's the most disgraceful way you could treat the dead. Even the freaking corpse-looters are considered more honourable than that!" he spat at the man in front of him, rising out of his chair with his flintlock in hand. "So you tell me how am I supposed to work with you after you didn't even have the fucking balls to give Hannah the respect she deserves?"

"I have no respect or love for thieves and mercenaries. You're lucky I even offered to spare her." T said in his monotonous voice, which only served to bring back the sweltering rage inside of Tanner as he raised his pistol to fire.

Only to hear a dry click.

Confusion quickly overtook the rage as the brunette fired two more times, only to create two more dry clicks. By the second empty barrel, the realisation dawned on him. "Dammit! I always forget to check the ammo!"

"This is pointless. The longer we fight, the more time Adam Taurus has to regroup with Roman Torchwick and the rest of their accomplices. I want them dead as much as you, so the least we can do is work together to kill them."

"How dare you expect me to work alongside you after what you did to Hannah!"

"It was you or the Faunus." T's voice began to rise in tempo.

"Then it should have been me! This is your fault!" Tanner suddenly snapped. "The deal was going great until you showed up!" he shouted as he pointed an accusing finger at the man.

"You would have only prolonged the moment when Torchwick decides that you have outlived your usefulness and killed you, just like the rest."

This caught Tanner's interest as he lowered his hand. "What are you talking about?"

A second later, the holograms re-appeared around them as T enlarged a screen covered in mug-shots for the swordsman. "You weren't the first I tried to find to fight against them." Three images enlarged and encompassed the entire holo-screen. From their brief profiles underneath their pictures, they didn't seem to have much in common, except for the large red cross over their faces. "When you signed the deal with Roman, he added you to a list of assets under his command. Everyone on the list is designated a command called 'Gambit Protocol'. When it is activated, they are deemed to have outlived your usefulness and need to be executed on sight."

He finished just as a video began playing and encompassed the entire screen. The video seemed to have been taken from a security camera, as it had an isometric view of the inside of a warehouse. In the centre of the compound, stood a teen with grey hair behind a man he recognized as one of the three to have been on the list with a cross over their faces. He was talking to Roman, and didn't notice as the teen raised his leg for a high kick, which sent the man forward into Roman as the orange-haired man fired off a shot from his cane at point blank range, blowing the man to the ground, lifeless.

"That was one week ago." T said solemnly as he closed the video, only to open up a second one. This one was taken from a sideways view as he watched another one of the men get stabbed straight through the chest by Adam. The man slumped to the floor on his knees right before Adam finished the man off by decapitating him.

Tanner had to look away for a moment as he watched the gruesome scene unfold, but it closed soon after as T spoke again. "That was five days ago." Opening another video, Tanner found the quality this video ran at was less smooth than the others, and was taken from a 'bird's eye' view that kept moving. "This was two days ago in Vale, shortly before your deal." He watched as the third person, a girl, was surrounded White Fang goons and was mercilessly gunned down, unable to reach for her weapon quickly enough.

The swordsman needed a moment to process the information that was laid out before him as his face slowly turned into a frown, realising that he couldn't really doubt the information that he was being given, especially since he had no real counter argument. _This is crazy._ Looking down at his feet, he asked T a question without looking at him.

"Has my Gambit Protocol been activated?"

"It has now." T said as the hidden holographic projectors began projecting Tanner's profile before them. The brunette's eyes widened at the amount of information on him that was included in the profile.

Reaching out to run his finger along the lines of the sentences to more smoothly read them, he was momentarily baffled by how they knew so much about his background and how they recorded all the dealings they had with him. _History, fighting style, weapon descriptions, weapon preference - I didn't know I had, it's all here!_

"This is all the information that they were able to pull up on me, right?" he asked as he looked at T, who gave him a nod in response. "Oh, ok." He said as he bobbed his head for a moment, seeming to have just accepted the information presented to him. "What the actual fuck!"

"Torchwick and Cinder Fall – his partner – have a program that can create a near-complete profile of almost anyone by compiling known information about the individual." T explained. "The profile can include psychological aspects as well as biological, depending on how much information they are able to compile."

"And how do you know this?"

"I designed the program for Cinder Fall myself."

Tanner needed a split second to change his focus from the profile to T, who stood right behind the display. The swordsman said nothing for a second, before letting out a short, hollow chuckle. "So that's what the asshole meant by 'traitor'."

"I betrayed Cinder because of what she was going to do with my programs, not for my own interest." T said as he shook his head slowly.

"Let me guess." Tanner said as he pretended to be thinking long and hard about his answer, placing two fingers to his temple. "She's planning to overthrow one of the Kingdoms."

"Wrong." The word came out of T with such a sure tone that Tanner lowered his hand, finally taking the man before him more seriously. "She's not merely planning to overthrow a single Kingdom. She's planning to throw all four Kingdoms into war with each other, killing each other off until she's the last one standing."

This new knowledge – however true it was – baffled the brunette, causing his jaw to go slack for a second before he regained his composure. "T-that's insane. What could anyone gain from destroying all of the Kingdoms? It'd throw the world into chaos and the Grimm would swoop in and finish us off in the panic."

"Maybe that's what she wants." T said quietly, but Tanner caught on to the words and developed a feeling that the cyborg was not telling him the whole truth. However, he knew how to get the truth out of people subtly as he did using brute force.

"How? Tell me how she's planning to do this and I'll listen." Tanner said as he settled back into the chair, while T began opening and closing several different holo-screens.

After spending roughly ten minutes explaining the truth about Cinder's plan, and how he and all the other expendable assets were just playing for their own destruction, Tanner needed a moment to process everything that he had just heard to give a good, well-thought response to maintain his classy image. "Well shit."

The hidden projectors deactivated, casting the room back into a more yellowish light than the blue light the projectors emitted. "This is why we don't have time to fight amongst ourselves. If we can't work together to stop Cinder Fall, then Hannah Cobalt's death would have been for nothing."

Hearing the name of his deceased lover brought a fresh wave of anger to Tanner's features. Rising out of the wooden chair he had been sitting in, he scowled at T. "Don't talk about her like that. You don't know anything about her! You don't…y-you don't know her like I do." Thinking about the final moments they shared together brought its own series of tears to the swordsman's eyes. He thought about how he squandered the moments as such, and never truly got the chance to tell the girl how much she meant to him.

He could barely stand to glare at the man in front of him – let alone uphold his cold emotional walls – while thinking back on the sweet memories they shared. After having met and grow close to so many different girls, Tanner truly thought that Hannah was the one; the one to make him eternally happy just to be with.

But now? Now he felt like a hollow husk without a purpose.

"I understand."

The words brought Tanner's tear-stained attention back to T, who was looking intently at his Scroll, but somehow had a distant quality to his eyes, like he wasn't really looking at the Scroll. "I understand what you must feel. Cinder took someone from me as well, so I served her in hopes of getting her back." He paused as he put away his Scroll. "But Cinder Fall will never compromise; she won't stop until she has everyone at her feet. The only way to do justice to those who have fallen before her is to strike her down. It will only serve her if we waste time to mourn our losses."

Taking several deep breaths to compose himself, the swordsman was finally able to steady his breathing as he slowly looked up to face T. _He's not wrong. And if half the shit he told me about Cinder is true, I can't allow it either._ Swallowing a lump in his throat, he finally found his voice again. "So how do we do this?"

With the tap of his Scroll, the holographic projections around him rematerialized as he moved back to the large mess of computers. "We need to turn the expendable assets against Cinder, make them realise that working for her is a death sentence and convince them to fight against her."

"Turn her strength against her…clever." Tanner muttered to himself as he looked over the lists, trying to see if he could recognize anyone on the list. The determination that slowly built up inside of his to exact justice on those that killed Hannah gradually shrouded the despair and sorrow he felt. It would still be there, but now at least he had a purpose again. "Alright, who's our first target?"

* * *

"Pause the video." Qrow asked, and the video on the holo-screen immediately froze on T looking at Tanner, the video that had played for the last twenty minutes having been what footage T was able to record with his cybernetic eye, as he felt it was better to show them what exactly he wanted them to know instead of describing it.

He looked to his left, where Tanner was lying face down on the table while SK prodded at him experimentally. "Tanner, are you ok?" he asked before looking at T. "Are you sure that was Tanner in the footage."

"Of course it was me!" he shouted, bolting straight up. "I was just going through something at the time!" he rambled as the redness in his face slowly receded, returning his face to a more normal shade of tanned brown.

"And you recorded all this footage with your eye?" Glynda asked as she quirked an eyebrow at T.

"The device was designed to get confessions and evidence to back-up any claim I made, so yes."

"Are you recording now?" Qrow asked as he stared deeply into T's eyes.

"Yes."

"Can you turn the device off?"

"I will not turn it off."

"T, we just want-" Jay started, but T was quick to cut him off.

"I want to understand what happens today. From here on out, we are on the same side, so there is no point in arguing." T concluded strongly, bringing about a second of silence before Mason broke it with a cough.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm on your side cause I'm gonna kill you all at some point, but I'm just saying…" he let the sentence hang as every set of eyes turned to glare somewhat at Mason for the interruption. "Yeah, T does the explaining. I just do the killing." He said as he relaxed into his seat.

"T's right, Qrow." Jay spoke up as he put his hand on the older man's shoulder. "If we want them to help us, we need to be open to the truth as well."

Qrow sighed before looking across the table at Glynda. "He really is like his father isn't he?" he asked, the question only really meant for her.

"His father was an incredible man because of it." She said as she carefully eyed the boy. "Perhaps he will be as well."

T knew, of course, who they were talking about. Incredible as Jay's father was, not many actually knew the truth behind his tales and legends simply because the truth was much harder to digest than the stories they told about him.

"Moving on." Qrow continued as he focussed his attention on T again. "How did you get the surveillance feed of some of the executions – the people that were killed because of that Gambit Protocol?"

"After I created a presence in the global network, I used the same tactic on the bug I had already placed in Cinder's hardware. It wasn't easy, but I eventually had access to the data accumulated and access to every device that was connected to her private servers and hardware." He explained.

"Servers he helped to create." SK muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"They worked to our advantage." T countered, turning to face the rogue.

"Yeah, for a while. Wasn't long before Cinder figured out about your bug and locked us out of the system."

"Back to the matter at hand," Gylnda spoke up, silencing SK immediately. "-do you have any recorded footage about Cinder that could indicate what her next move is?"

"Miss Goodwitch, there are several dozen such recordings in my databank, however most would be irrelevant to the matter at hand therefore I require a specification. A certain time, a certain location, a certain person."

The blonde teacher looked like she was about to respond, but Jay beat her to it. "Adam Taurus." He suddenly burst out. "Do you have anything with him in it?"

T took a moment to consider the teen's reaction and whether or not he should actually continue, wary of provoking an unwanted enemy. "Give me a moment." With that, he picked up his Scroll and began sifting through the massive amounts of data on it. While he did that, his hands unconsciously ran over the frame of the device as his left hand traced the rim of the indentation where a bullet had deflected off the device. The shot didn't even pierce the metal exterior, leaving the inner-systems completely intact.

While he did this, his attention still lingered on the conversation that was being held around him.

"Why are you so interested in Adam, anyway?" Tanner asked, the question directed to the blonde boy that sat opposite him. "If it's a vendetta thing, you'll have to get in line."

"I've had dibs on that Adam fellow for much longer. You've had your chances, now it's my turn." He replied with a controlled wrath in his silver eyes.

"Please, I've been going after him for months now. Whoever he killed at the attack on Beacon-"

"Me and my uncle have been trying to locate and bring in Adam for almost a year now." Jay cut him off, propping himself up with his palms on the table. "I'll admit; he's a tough one, so I don't blame you for not having killed him yet." Qrow and Glynda shared a concerned look for a moment that maybe they should try to calm Jay down before he did anything…drastic.

"Are you mocking me?" Tanner asked with a certain sting to his tone as he stood up to match the teen's height.

Jay looked like he was about to give a sharp response, but stopped to consider his words. "Things are different now. It's not about revenge anymore; it's about stopping him for good before he lands more people up like…Yang."

Tanner took a moment to blink as his rising fury died back down to a smoulder as concern took over. "Wait, what happened to Yang?"

Qrow let out a sigh, having decided to answer so that Jay didn't have to, seeing as how he seemed to have some difficulty with it. "She's alright, but we found that a man fitting Adam Taurus' description cut off one of her arms."

"No!" Tanner exclaimed in shock, before his primary emotion changed back to rage. "Bastard! Now I really wished I had killed him when I had the chance."

SK let out a sigh as he took off his glasses, with one of the lenses having a spider-web of cracks running across it. "Well, at least she's alive." He breathed out, sounding almost as shocked about the news.

"Do you still have the arm?" Mason asked, and everyone immediately turned their attention to the redhead. "I mean, if no one wants it I'd be more than happy to take it."

"Mason." Tanner started. "Please shut up."

T wanted to quickly stop the arguments before they could escalate any further and searched through his files even faster until he eventually found the one he was looking for. "Found it. Playing it now." He quickly rushed the words out as he hit the 'play' button and the holo-screen flickered to life again.

 **A/N: Fun fact: T's apartment is actually loosely based off one of my friend's apartment. Until then, TTFN.**


	12. Chapter 7

The Trouble With T

 **A/N: Oh, you were expecting a chapter on Monday. Nope. Now we're working with a Friday schedule until further notice.**

 **Disclaimer: Seriously, how do other people keep doing this? I mean, nor I or my associates that made the story own RWBY or any part of Rooster Teeth. All rights and registers go to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.**

 **Two hours after Chapter 5…**

Adam was quick to jump out of the Bullhead as soon as the hatches opened and the airship touched down upon the pavement of the abandoned industrial sector of Mistral. His joint base-of-operations with Cinder had changed since the last one was destroyed, and now he sought her out with a broiling fury.

The Faunus ignored the greetings his fellow White Fang members sent him and caused those that had questions for him to hold their tongue from one look at his impatient, heavy pace towards one of the warehouses – where he would most likely find Cinder.

He didn't even bother to refresh himself before he began his search for the ash-haired woman, more out of frustration than actual concern that Cinder had made it paramount that they find T, and anyone who caught wind of the boy needed to report to her directly.

After having searched the compound to no avail, he was about to call the woman on his Scroll just as an airship slowed to a hover above the concrete pavement outside the warehouse Adam was in, swooping in out of nowhere on this dark night, the abyss-black sky only lit by the broken moon in its half-phase.

The red-haired Faunus watched as the airship land along with a crew of White Fang repairmen, ready to perform any necessary maintenance or repairs on the airship. Turning to see that a few other members of the organisation had stopped to observe the Bullhead, Adam took a certain amount of satisfaction from yelling at them and telling them to get back to work, reassuring himself that the carefully structured system he had built would certainly fall apart without him.

Adam's attention was brought back to the airship as a familiar pair of Human delinquents he was being forced to work with stepped out of the airship, bickering as always. The Faunus' feet carried him to the two, where he caught their attention by clearing his throat.

The boy, Mercury, turned his head first to see who it was, before an annoyed scowl graced his features. "And what do you want?"

"I'm looking for your boss." He spoke sternly, sword hand ready should one of them choose to attack him. Despite working alongside them, Adam's instincts always told him to be wary around Humans – especially the ones closest to him. It may have just been paranoia, but he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of taking him by surprise.

Emerald thumbed towards the Bullhead. "Still in there. Why, something up?" she asked as she quirked an eye brow. "If you're busy, I could always-"

"No, I need to tell her directly." He cut her off, receiving a scowl from the green-haired girl.

"Tell me what?" Cinder asked as she stepped off the airship.

Huffing at the woman, he gestured for her to follow him. "You're late."

"We had a run in with Atlas security." She said with an annoyed eye-roll. "For all their shining armour and badges, it's all just a coat of polish to cover up how weak they really are."

Adam allowed a scoff at that. "I thought you had that covered with that new boy you brought in." he remarked, with the intent to sting at her method of recruitment.

"He had promise." Cinder replied, facial expression remaining neutral. "However, T somehow knew what we were doing and gave the authorities a generous amount of information about our whereabouts."

Immediately halting himself, Adam looked at Cinder through his mask with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. "Are you suggesting that one of my men is working with that traitor?"

"I'm not suggesting anything." Cinder snapped back with a glare. "I'm just open to the possibility. After all," a sly smirk began to grow across her face. "-didn't one of your close operatives recently turn their back on you?"

His hand flew to his sword hilt and drew it at an incredible speed. It was already at Cinder's throat before her two companions even had time to recognize what was happening. "You will not speak of her again, ever." He said through gritted teeth and barely restrained anger.

The rest of the White Fang soldiers in the area took notice of the brewing conflict and raised their weapons at the three Humans, who subsequently had their weapons pointed at Adam.

Although, Cinder didn't look nearly as fazed by the confrontation, instead raising a hand to slowly lower the blade against her neck as she raised an eyebrow. "Do you really want to do this again?"

For a few seconds, Adam didn't move a single muscle as the snarl on his face tightened slightly to reveal the canines along his jaw. Eventually, he lowered Wilt and sheathed it back into Blush in one fluid motion. "And stay away from her; she's mine."

"Glad we have something to agree on." Cinder said monotonously as she signalled for Emerald and Mercury to relax. "Now, you had something you wanted to tell me?"

Turning to face her, Adam made sure to give her the annoyed look he had when he watched his White Fang camp get blasted apart by the explosive charges T had dropped. "I ran into your boy, T during a Dust exchange with the Vermillion kid."

He took his own private pleasure from the way Cinder's eyes widened at the mention of the Human and continued forward to the warehouse as the other three were left momentarily stunned.

A split second later, Cinder recovered from her shock and pretended to act like it was nothing. "Are you sure it was him?" she asked sceptically, though there was something else in her tone that Adam could not figure out.

Emerald and Mercury soon caught up as Adam continued. "Just like you described; metal right arm, overcoat, smelled of cowardice." He exaggerated the last part. If anything, the way the man fought indicated a degree of relentless zeal. "Though, he seems to have acquired a few new tricks since last time."

"What do you mean?" Mercury inquired from his left side.

Reaching into the pocket of his trench coat, he pulled up one half of the disc that T had thrown at him and held it in front of him. In the confusion with the Grimm, he had been able to grab only one half, though it was more than enough to figure out what it was. "He's apparently invested in explosive discs and harpoons."

"T always did have a new trick up his sleeve." Emerald muttered to herself when all of a sudden, Cinder abruptly stopped.

"Cinder, what's wrong?" Mercury asked as they slowed their pace to a stop.

Turning her head slowly, Cinder eventually turned her whole body to face the Bullhead Adam had arrived in. "Did you order your men to search the hull of the ship?" she asked, not bothering to face the rest of the group.

"No, why would I-"

"Because he planted a tracker on your ship." Cinder's tone was one of annoyance and irritation as she groaned and began marching towards the airship. "Search the hull of the ship for a tracker!" she shouted at the group of White Fang goons that were performing repairs on her airship.

The crimson-eyed woman was immediately halted in her tracks as she was spun around by Adam. "You do not have the authority to command my men as such!" he said with a snarl while Cinder rebuked it with a leer as she brushed his hand off her shoulder.

With an unsatisfied huff, the Faunus leader turned to the others who still stood idle, unsure of how to interpret the mixed messages they were receiving. Adam opened his mouth to give them a command, but stopped to consider what he had to say before actually speaking. "Do as she says."

With that, they began rushing about the airship frantically. "What are we looking for?"

"A small round device; about the size of Mercury's brain." Emerald spoke up.

"Well then it shouldn't be too hard to spot." Mercury chuckled as he wiggled his eyebrows at the green-haired girl, who rolled her eyes.

"Please; I couldn't see it if it were under a microscope." Emerald jabbed.

"Well you-"

"Focus!" Cinder snapped at the two, causing them to straighten out at break-neck speed as the woman approached. "The more time we waste the more time T has to plan his next offensive against us." She scolded while slowly approaching the two. The sounds that her heels made were like an axe hitting the stone floor at this point to the two. "If you want to be useful, then go search the ship!"

The two teens were about to rush off and do just that, when a loud clanging sound reached their ears. All three turned to the direction the noise had come to see Neo standing next to the nose of the Bullhead, having used her umbrella to hit the airship. She had been on the ship with Emerald, Mercury and Cinder, and had been the last to step off.

The multi-coloured petite held up her left hand to about neck height, where she held what could only be the tracker they had been looking for, before dropping it to the ground to crush it with the heel of her boot.

The others stood still for a moment, unsure of how to reply to Neo's action – as they had quickly learned that the mute often had something to say in every action she did, ironic enough as that may be. Eventually, it was Cinder who spoke up first.

"Excellent work Neo. However, it would seem that thanks to Adam's carelessness this base is now compromised." She said, the bite in her tone making it known that her remark towards the Faunus leader was intentional. "You know the drill."

Adam allowed a low snarl to pass his lips before he turned his attention to one of the lieutenants on duty. "Lieutenant!" he called out.

"Yes, sir!" she replied with a crisp salute.

"I want you to get the men to pack up everything and prepare to move out to Gizzard Base on my order, and I want it done it ten minutes." He barked at her, though the Faunus had little doubt that his lieutenant would follow his word to the letter.

"Yes, sir!" she repeated before turning on her heel and marching off, yelling at White Fang members everywhere to grab all their stuff.

It took Adam a few seconds to re-locate Cinder and catch up to her, but by the time he did, he found that Neo had joined the group as well.

"This is unnecessary. My men are more than capable of dealing with one man." Adam told her as they walked into the warehouse.

"Oh, is that so? And how did they fare in your last encounter?" Cinder asked, though there was a hint of rhetoric in her tone.

"He caught us by surprise." He lied. The Faunus knew full well of the advantage he had over the boy, and made a mental note to take any advantage against T when they next fought. "It won't happen again, especially since we know he's coming here."

"That's the thing." Emerald spoke up. "We don't know whether he's coming here or not."

"Where else could he hit? We've been constantly on the move, the rest of the camps have shifted about since last time, I've lost a few men in order to establish new strongholds on the outskirts of Mistral because of your insistent paranoia that we can't beat one rogue Human." Adam yelled, listing off the points on his fingers as he did.

This time, Cinder stopped to face the Faunus with a fury in her eyes. "Then what do you suppose? We wait here for T to strike first?"

"We wait, we build up our forces, we set up an ambush." He countered, trying not to sound wary of the glare she was sending him. From his time with the woman, he had learned how to better negotiate and get more say in how things were done by putting on a greater show of force than her. However, Adam needed to be sure not to be too assertive, lest she actually lash out at him.

He had already lost too much from her initial takeover and because of some pyromaniac that destroyed one of their ammunition depots. The White Fang couldn't afford to fight a war on two fronts.

Before Cinder could reply, Neo shoved her Scroll in front of his face. He grabbed it and read it out loud.

"'He'd cut off our supply and wait us out.' Well then we double our guard and stock up on supply as soon as we can." He countered, unwilling to admit his argument made little sense at all. Adam was – in reality – in agreement with Cinder, but T had slaughtered his men and decimated his camp and he swore revenge against the traitor.

"Just admit you're on the losing side of this argument, Adam." Cinder hissed as she leered at the Faunus. "Honestly, I thought you'd be smarter than this." She said over her shoulder as she walked off to the room in the warehouse she had designated as her office.

Slowly exhaling a hot breath, the red-haired Faunus decided to steer the conversation away from a physical confrontation. "And what will you do?"

Stopping, the ash-haired woman turned around to face Adam once again, this time wearing her signature smirk. "I'm going to strike at him first. Just make sure your men aren't in the way when I do."

With that she turned around to walk into the room, but stopped again to turn halfway towards Adam. "What ever became of the smuggler?"

Huffing once, Adam replied, "Last I saw of him he was crying on the ground after I killed his partner. T probably finished him off."

Cinder seemed to consider the turn of events for a moment before smiling again. "Excellent. His Gambit Protocol was due for activation anyway." Pushing open the door and walking in, she spoke in a low mutter, but Adam was able to hear her with his enhanced hearing. "I should still inform Roman, he'll be heartbroken." The last few words dripped from her mouth with a toxin that made Adam shudder ever so slightly as he turned away to oversee the evacuation process himself. _At least it'll take my mind off things._ He thought to himself. _Fucking Humans._

* * *

As Adam walked away, Emerald's face turned into a frown that she had been trying to hold back to maintain an image around the Faunus leader. She let out an audible sigh as she slowly turned her head to face Neo, who was still staring at the door to Cinder's 'office', deep in thought.

"I'm going to kill him the next chance I get." She said with the words directed at Neo. They had their intended effect and the girl gave her a hard glare as she typed out something on her Scroll. Turning it towards the two, Emerald let out an annoyed scoff once she finished reading it. "Well then he's going through a hell of a mood to be going around blowing up our bases."

"I'm honestly not too worried." Mercury stated in a mocking, matter-of-fact tone. "I've never lost a one-on-one with him, so if he decides to show up again I'll just beat him to a pulp."

"You weren't the one getting shot at by chain guns." Emerald muttered in spite while folding her arms.

"Hey, I was in the factory when he blew it up!" the silver-haired boy countered. "I deserve a piece of revenge as much as you do!"

At that, Emerald just rolled her eyes. "Says the guy that doesn't know how to share."

"Well last I checked he had you running for your life."

"Well I-"

Emerald cut herself off when she heard Neo snap her fingers twice, turning her ire towards the angry heterochromatic girl. Without making any other gestures, she held her Scroll out for the two to read.

Leaning back with a smirk, Mercury was the first to respond. "I really doubt that Cinder will just let him back after all he's done."

Neo's face scrunched up into a tight glare as she pointed a finger at herself twice, asserting her statement. However, Emerald was still a little sceptical. "No offense, but I really don't think you have what it takes."

Rolling her eyes, Neo quickly flipped the Scroll so that it faced her as she quickly typed another message and showed it to the two before walking off.

"Hey!" Mercury called out to her after she had walked about four metres from the two. Turning her head, she gave them a deadpanned look that could only be interpreted as 'What?'

"If you don't kill him next time we see him, I'm gonna do it myself. Figure it'd be right after all the crap that prick gave me." Mercury continued as he folded his arms.

Neo held her deadpanned look for a few seconds – blinking every so often – before she eventually shrugged her shoulders and walked off, likely to pack up her things like she recommended they do before Cinder yelled at them.

"Better watch out, Mercury." Emerald warned in a low voice.

"Watch out for Neo? She's a pushover." Mercury scoffed with a bitter laugh.

"Not her." Emerald said while she slowly shook her head. "I'm _going_ to put a bullet through T's head, so you'd better make sure you're not in the way when I do."

"Aw, upset that he killed your boyfriend?" Mercury cooed sarcastically.

At the mention of the orange-themed swordsman, Emerald lost the constant feeling of stabbing the silver-haired boy through the neck, replaced instead by an emptiness. She slowly turned to look at Mercury with a deadpanned look in her eyes. "Tanner was my friend. If T killed him, I wanna be sure to return the favour."

Mercury developed a tight, neutral expression on his face before he eventually turned away with a "Whatever.", leaving Emerald to her thoughts as she headed in the direction of her equipment storage.

The green-haired girl had known Tanner for a long time when she was still in Atlas. He showed her around the place and she showed him how to lift wallets from unsuspecting people. Several thefts and robberies later, Emerald considered him one of her only friends in the world. Having met and become good friends with him…it was difficult for her to face the fact that he was gone.

Someone had to answer for his death, and she could think of no better person than the cyborg son-of-a-bitch that turned his back on all of them.

* * *

 **Same time on a Mistral-bound ship…**

Pulling his hand back in pain after having received a mild electric shock, SK flung his hand about in the air to try to shake off the pain. Sitting down with his back against the cold metal of the cargo ship he had snuck aboard, he turned the helmet he had in his hands so that he faced the front of the helmet.

He stared at the white and blue helmet for a few moments, eyes peering into the vacant space inside it while a warped reflection of his face stared back at him in the polished surface of the metal visor. With a sigh, he turned it back around to try and extract any salvageable materials from the helmet. The black-haired teen had stopped feeling bad for the Atlesian he knocked out for the piece of armour since yesterday, and instead set his mind on putting it to use while he waited for the small portable holographic processor he stole to finish decoding the counter-virus that had infected the Scroll that he had plugged into the Atlas mainframe.

 _Stole._ The word still left a bad taste in his mouth. Every fibre of his training under the Raiders told him that it was wrong, but he always matched the argument with how he wasn't in the Raiders anymore and that he needed to do whatever was necessary for him to survive.

So far, he had been able to extract the power cell and short-range radio transmitter inside the helmet. Without any additional tools, he was unable to disassemble the helmet and didn't want to damage any of the inner-workings.

 _I could always steal a small tool-kit…_ he mused to himself as he pulled out what looked like a microchip. Groaning in frustration, he put the helmet aside to get a better look at the microchip he held in his hands, allowing his glasses to run a simple scan of the device and cross-reference it against the known database.

It took a few seconds for the process to complete, and when it did the first thing SK checked on the list of information that was displayed in his field of vision was the selling price of the component. "Well with this I could buy myself a day's worth of food…" he muttered to himself as he set it aside, making a mental note to acquire a rucksack or something of the sort to carry all of his goods now that he had more things to worry about.

At this point, he had given up trying to pry at the helmet further until he could properly dismantle it and switched his focus back to deciphering the program that had infected the Scroll he was using, as well as understanding how the virus on it worked.

Whoever created the virus was a genius who knew exactly what he was doing, in SK's mind. Once he figured out how to properly infect a device with the virus, he found that it could then be more easily spread to other devices it came into contact with. This also left the rogue with more questions than answers as he pondered over what Cinder wanted to gain out of infecting the entire Atlas network with the program. Sure, lots of people could gain from that kind of tactical advantage, but from what he had seen of her forces and assets, the woman was planning something big.

And if the person that created the virus was a genius, then the hacker that designed the counter-virus must be phenomenal. The program was very specifically designed to target and isolate the virus as it was being uploaded on the Atlas network, meaning that the other hacker must have been aware of Cinder's intentions. The black-haired boy wasn't sure what to make of all this, but one thing was clear to him; whoever created the counter-virus was already in the Atlas network, and from the looks of it knew of Cinder's intentions more than he did.

Looking over the lines of code that flooded across his offline processor, he saw that the decoding process was almost complete. Once it was done, SK would run a trace on where the virus had been sent from and hopefully track down this mystery hacker. He would have to run the risk of connecting the processor back to the global network, but he had taken several precautions to make the trace as undetectable as he could.

From there, it was just as simple as finding the hacker, heading over to their location and…

 _And what?_

He hadn't thought about how this journey would end at all. Would he kill the person responsible for almost having him put on death row for crimes against the Kingdoms? Would he talk to them? The logical conclusion he kept coming to was that if they were against him, this mystery hacker would have to be eliminated. _But why?_ They didn't seem to be coming after him, it was merely a hunch SK had built upon the message that they gave him.

' _You Should Not Be Here.'_

Why shouldn't he have been at the CCT Tower that night? What did he mean by that? In the end, it was the never-ending stream of questions that made SK want to find the hacker. Without any real destination or goal in his mind, he had to latch onto anything that he felt gave him purpose.

Soon enough, the decoding process was complete and he found the string of code that would allow him to trace where the virus originated from. The process worked very quickly, though the point of origin kept bouncing off different locations in Atlas. Taking this additional data into account, SK followed the trail of the route the code took back to its very start, which led him – conveniently – back to Mistral.

 _Why does everything happen in Mistral?_ He asked silently, looking up at the ceiling and half-expecting an answer in return as he narrowed down the map to a certain location on the eastern side of Mistral, across a large patch of inhospitable bog-lands that separated this certain part of Mistral from the rest of the Kingdom.

Though he got an uncertain feeling from the location marked, he synchronized it with the map in his glasses, placing a waypoint on his map display. Now all he had to do was wait for the ship to dock at the Mistral harbour, sneak off the rusty boat, and trek halfway across the Kingdom for a loose lead he didn't have much faith in.

In his mind, it wasn't a plan. But it was all he had to go on from, so he settled for it. Leaning back against the cold-steel hull of the ship, wrapped in his poncho and sipping from a can of People Like Grapes, he really wished he had stayed in Shade.


	13. Chapter 8

Queen's Gambit

 **A/N: And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. No, not Volume 4 of RWBY. The next two chapters will focus around Team MSTT coming together and trying their hardest to** _ **not**_ **kill each other. After that, things will be set in motion for one of the greatest adventures I will ever write about!**

* * *

 **One Week Later…**

With a constant uncertain – yet determined – feeling in his gut, Mason continued onwards to the rendezvous point he had been designated. The redhead wasn't sure exactly who contacted him or how they got their hands on his Scroll ID, but they said some very nice things about him in the message and he felt rather generous because of it.

The details on the message were sketchy at best, as all that had been clearly stated was that they required his presence and skills and would be willing to reward him generously for it. So, naturally, Mason took the opportunity, walking down the deserted streets of Mistral with his weapons slung over his shoulders.

Despite having memorised the rendezvous point on the map of Mistral, Mason took out his Scroll every now and then to make sure that he was on the right path. Too many times had he accidentally wandered into a marsh filled with tar pits and quicksand for his own good, along with accidentally kicking down the wrong door to the wrong house full of cultists.

Mason shuddered at the memory of the crazy purple-haired men and women in that building that kept trying to convert him to their strange deity, even after he had the courtesy to leave some pizza coupons on their doorstep in payment for the door he broke.

 _Yeah, that had been an awkward night. Especially since I was also late for the Cult Gathering!_

Pulling out his Scroll for what had to be the twelfth time, he found that he had arrived right outside of his destination, and a just in time – not that he cared too much.

What he did care about was the fact that he hadn't really noticed that he had walked right up to the front of an old, battered military stronghold, likely built during the Great War if he had to bet his favourite sack of tongues. The cylindrical stone tower that stuck out of the ground was surrounded on all sides by four concrete walls. Though it seemed quiet and abandoned, with his enhanced hearing, he could clearly make out some noise and commotion from within the building.

 _I wonder if they're going at it, hard._

Checking his surroundings, he found that he wasn't alone on the moonlit outskirts of Mistral this night. A man wearing a brown panama hat and a burnt-umber traveller's tunic with leather straps with metal buckles across the waist and shoulder of the tunic was clinging to the shadows of one of the few trees that grew out of the marshlands that surrounded them. Realising that he had been spotted, he stepped out of the shadows to reveal that he was also wearing a pair of dark-green cargo pants, elbow-length gloves and worn out shoes. He had what looked like a pair of folded up machetes on his back, carefully kept in slings that hung on his sides like a pair of holsters.

Tipping his hat with one hand and waving with the other, he greeted Mason first. "G'day, mate. Odd time for anyone to be wandering 'round these parts."

"I know right. Really makes you question my sanity." Mason replied, eyeing up the guy for the eventual moment when he took him by surprise and ripped his heart out.

 _Still would tap dat._

Nodding towards the war-worn stone and concrete stronghold behind Mason, the man spoke again as he scratched the scruff of his beard. "I'll assume you're headed that way as well?"

Mason looked back and forth between the battered building and the man with red-tinged hair sticking out from under the hat before responding. "Oh, you mean that way. Yeah, headed that way."

The man approached with his hand outstretched for a handshake. "Cool. Name's Kane Carnage, finest Grimm tracker this side of Remnant." He introduced.

"Mason Mars," he replied, dropping Bas to return the handshake. "-murderer extraordinaire."

Kane visibly paused in his handshake for less than half a second before acting like nothing had happened between the two as he gestured towards the front entrance of the stone stronghold. "Shall we?"

Mason was the first to walk up to the solid steel doors. He put his weight on one of them, but it didn't budge. "What gives?" he asked out loud as he drew Fuil and bashed it against the door. "Hello! Anyone want to get rekt?"

"Uh, I think there's someone home, mate." Kane said with an uncertain tone in his voice as he tapped the redhead Faunus on the shoulder. Mason turned around to ask why, when he found that they were surrounded by at least seven White Fang guards with their weapons drawn at the ready. "Relax boys, friendlies." None of the guards lowered their weapons in the slightest. "Wanna see my invitation?"

A second after he said this, the sound of the steel doors creaking apart was heard, and both he and Mason turned around to see a bat Faunus wearing the attire of a White Fang lieutenant standing right in front of the entrance, with more guards flanking either side of him.

"Lower your weapons, men." He spoke in a gruff voice through the Grimm mask that only covered the left-half of his face, revealing one turquoise-coloured eye and several scars across his jaw. Along with that, he had an unusually large, bat-like ear in place of where a Human ear should be. "These people are our guests of honour. Please, come in." with a gesture of welcoming, he stepped out of the way of the entrance while the guards around them lowered their weapons.

Mason didn't hesitate to walk right by the guards, holding out his hand for a high-five every now and then even though none of them returned it. The tracker in the panama seemed a bit more hesitant, however, and only took his first few steps into the facility when the guards behind them began walking towards the entrance.

* * *

 **Meanwhile...**

Tanner lowered the binoculars he held over his face with a sigh. "Two more just headed in." he reported to T, who was typing away at his Scroll as he hacked into the servers and androids being held in the stronghold. It didn't look like much from the outside, but the White Fang had taken several precautions to both conceal the activity of the facility, as well as fortify their position.

Underneath the stronghold, where rations and weapons used to be stored for a war of attrition, the White Fang now stored several dozen Atlesian androids to use in case the people in there were going to be more persistent about not dying.

The White Fang had also specially modified this stronghold with turrets on the inside of the facility, aimed specifically at the courtyard. T had informed Tanner that for some reason, Cinder – or whoever was in charge of executing the Gambit Protocol – had decided to gather several of the people who had outlived their usefulness and were going to quickly dispose of all of them at once. On top of that, the stronghold was surrounded by several dormant landmines that have the capacity to destroy an Atlesian Spider Droid, just in case any of the men and women about to be executed today were able to make a run for it.

"This is fucking insane." Tanner groaned as he leaned back on the tree they were hiding behind. The brunette was almost tempted to slump to the floor, but seeing as it was covered in mud and dirt, he restrained himself. "How do we know that the chumps in there will listen to us at all?" he directed the question at T.

"We don't." T responded as he put away his Scroll and squatted next to Tanner, facing the stronghold. "Just focus on taking down White Fang once they start the slaughter."

To pass the time, Tanner began checking the ammunition in the pistols at his sides while he spoke to the cyborg. "Why don't you just use your bloody airship and blast our way in? Why the elaborate break-in plan?"

"I don't want to run the risk that the bombing run might force the 'potentials' in there to ally with the Fang against us." T said as he flexed his metal arm in front of his face, clearly seeing something that Tanner didn't "It's the same reason we have to wait until the Fang start killing them before we make our move."

Nodding his head, Tanner silently gave T a little bit of credit for how thorough he was with this plan. He himself didn't think too hard about how he went about his own missions. All he ever really _needed_ to know was the layout of the building or area he was concerned with.

Then again, the swordsman's missions never really required him to make friends with half of the people that might shoot him. Not that he felt morally wrong about letting some of the people in the building die, he just felt…awkward about it – for lack of a better word.

"Hey T." Tanner received a hum in acknowledgement. "Say we do get more people on board the hate train, then what? What exactly is the plan to go after the rest of the White Fang and Cinder?"

T paused in his movements for a moment, blinking only twice and very slowly before responding. "It's not about going after the White Fang or Cinder; it's about knocking them down over and over again until they destroy themselves."

Tanner gave a grunt in reply before raising the binoculars back to his face. "Sounds like a fucking waste of time to me."

This isn't at all what the swordsman expected he would be doing with his life at the moment. Sure, he didn't really know what to expect when he signed up for the long-term deal with Roman, but he certainly didn't expect to be hiding in a swamp with a vigilante, spying on a White Fang stronghold.

"It's time." T suddenly announced as he rose to his feet before taking off at a sprint towards the stronghold. It took Tanner a moment to realise what T had said and for his legs to cooperate with him and carry him forward.

Having carefully dodged around the hidden landmines and pressed up right against the wall, the swordsman could now hear the clash of steel and gunfire from within the compound – likely coming from its large courtyard.

T gave him a hand signal to commence with the breaching process and he nodded in reply before he reached into the small satchel he slung over himself to pull out several jackets of explosives. Sticking the explosives on the wall, T fired a grappling hook aimed at the top of the same wall to help him make the climb.

Once T was in position and two guards fell over the edge of the wall screaming, Tanner took a few steps back before channelling his Aura forward, focussing it on the explosives.

* * *

Just as SK drove Yakmak through the throat of another Beowulf, a loud explosion rang out in the darkness of the swamp.

The rogue turned his head towards the sound of the explosion and just saw a flash of light before a cloud of debris, dust and smoke took its place. The Grimm around SK began acting up and advanced towards the source of the explosion, likely having sensed negative energy emanating from it. They weren't clueless enough to forget about him though, but SK had enough sense to duck under the swing of an Ursa before vanishing, staying very still in his crouched position to hopefully avoid being detected by the creatures.

He held his breath as the Ursa looked around for any sign of him, and only let it out very slowly once the creature walked by him. While hiding from the monster, he swiped the frame of his glasses to magnify where the explosion came from in his vision. Peering through the treeline, he zoomed in to see part of the wall of an old stronghold had been blasted apart from the outside.

Staying low, he also pulled out his Scroll and opened up the map while slowly crawling under the cover of a large root. With the momentary cover, he deactivated his Semblance, allowing himself to catch his breath. Looking at the map, the source of the counter-virus had moved to the stronghold. It didn't surprise SK in the least, as the point on the map had been on the move since yesterday. It was this little detail that made SK think that he was being led on.

However, with nothing else to go on, he continued to follow the marker, the only thing on his mind being the answers at the end. He knew that it was a trap, but it seemed illogical to him to not go for it, considering that he hadn't sprung any other traps up to this point and he was still alive.

Keeping his grip around the hilt of his scimitar firm, he vanished again and tried his best not to sink his boots too deep into the mud around him as he sprinted towards his target.

* * *

 **A few moments ago…**

Mason gave a low whistle at the size and scale of the inside of the stronghold. _Mate, this place would make a great man-cave._ He thought to himself as he watched members of the White Fang run about, performing their various tasks. The giant steel doors shut behind him as a few men hefted a heavy iron bar in place to bar the door.

Looking around, he saw that there was a group of people wearing various outfits and garbs gathered off to one side of the stronghold, lounging about in what looked like a mess hall pushed up against one of the four walls that surrounded the stronghold within.

Another thing Mason noticed that peaked his interest was how most of the wall-mounted turrets and machine guns were faced towards the inside of the stronghold, however he shrugged it off as them trying to hide their outside appearance to anyone who could pass by the facility, while remaining armed at all times.

"I do apologize for the lack of hospitality." The White Fang lieutenant continued, clasping his hands together. "We're just very on-edge recently as Mistral has been cracking down hard on our operations as of late."

"I'm going to keep my political views to myself." Kane muttered with an offhand wave. "But where can I find Roman Torchwick? He told me to meet him here, see." He asked the lieutenant.

"Unfortunately, Mr Torchwick was unable to make it today and he asked that I speak and distribute your prizes in his stead." The lieutenant explained as he gestured for one of the White Fang goons to approach him. He whispered to in a low voice that Kane didn't seem to hear, but the redhead Faunus did. "Tell the others to gather in the courtyard. It's time."

 _It's time?_ Mason thought to himself. _Da fuck does that mean? Wait, was the invitation just an elaborate ruse to get us all in one place to kill us all off at once?_ Just as he was about to ask what was obviously meant to be a secret conversation, his felt a rumbling in his stomach and was reminded that he skipped dinner because food was promised in the message he was sent. _Ah, fuck it._ "Um, excuse me generic White Fang leader, but I was promised food in the invitation I got." He said as he tapped of the Faunus' armoured shoulder.

"You should have arrived sooner then!" the lieutenant snapped. "Food was being served then, but now you must…uh, gather with the others in the courtyard."

The redhead groaned in irritation, but shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to where several people were gathering, promising to slip away into the night with one of the guards as recompense when this was over.

When he had joined with the crowd, he could hear several of them whispering and murmuring amongst themselves about what was going on, but frankly Mason didn't give a shit so long as he got them Lien Lien bills y'all.

It was also then did Mason notice that the courtyard had become devoid of any White Fang soldiers, which sent an odd feeling down his back. Looking over to Kane, he noticed the man also seemed on edge for some reason.

Eventually, the White Fang lieutenant stepped out of the second level of the tower structure in the centre of the stronghold and onto a balcony that overlooked the courtyard. Clearing his voice over a microphone, the crowd suddenly grew quiet as they all looked up at the Faunus.

"Good evening everyone, and welcome to Fort Lazuli. I hope my men have been treating you well and with graciousness." He opened up his speech. During his pause, several of the men and women around Mason starting shouting at him and demanding to know why he was speaking in place of Roman Torchwick. The Faunus immediately addressed them. "I can assure you; my good friend Roman is on a very important venture at the moment, and would have liked nothing more than to be here today. I'm afraid, however, that he will not be joining us tonight." A few members of the gathered crowd started to shout and boo at the lieutenant, but he raised his voice so that he could be heard over their shouting. "I am also afraid you have been misled! I was told that many of you were to expect a reward or a prize for your excellent service to our cause, unfortunately, the work we do is of ground-breaking importance and we cannot afford loose ends." As he ended the sentence, White Fang goons began popping up along the walls, mounting the turrets aimed straight at them while the others propped rifles and rocket launchers along the wall.

It took Mason the whole of a second before it finally clicked in his mind.

"Open fire!"

"It's a trap!" Mason shouted in a deep voice as he drew his weapons. The rain of bullets and blasts of pure Dust energy quickly mowed down some of the less prepared men and women around him, while others raised shields and ducked for cover. The roar of the weapons and guns were deafening, but through it all Mason could still hear the delicious sound of slaughter. He just wished he wasn't the one being slaughtered.

"Berry, drop some smoke!" he heard one woman shout before a large cloud of smoke blanketed the survivors.

Thanks to his enhanced vision, he was able to see better than most of the other Humans around. The cloud of smoke didn't do much to deter their executioners, as they continued to pour bullets down on them.

Mason for the most part got lucky and was able to dodge and deflect most of the shots that were fired his way. Still using Fuil to defend himself, he transformed Bas back into its shotgun mode and blasted away aimlessly through the smoke – sometimes at some of the men and women around him. _Every MLG Point counts._

Eventually, a couple of people were able to set up a device that created a large, spherical force-field that protected them. Many other survivors began rushing towards the field, while others dragged their wounded companions in with them. The smoke had begun to clear, so Mason knew he had to pick up the pace. The redhead made a mad-dash for the ward of energy, pushing a girl Faunus to the ground while she stumbled with her unconscious friend, only for both of them to be gunned to shreds while Mason took refuge in the shell of light as he screamed a good-natured, "Scrubs!" over his shoulder.

"Dammit! This shield isn't going to hold for long!" the redhead heard one of the people in the safety bubble scream.

"Bloody hell, what do we do now?" Kane asked, walking over with both machetes in hand. The blades of the weapons were bent at odd angles to the hilts and didn't seem very functional.

Once Mason got the wind back into his lungs, he started pulling a few shotgun shells out of his pockets. "I think there's only one thing to do." He said as he began reloading Bas while several White Fang members wielding flamethrowers approached the shield and began spraying fire all over it, causing it to deteriorate even faster as several large holes were being made in it. Several of the machine-gunners were able to penetrate the shield and put several holes through some of the less fortunate.

Cocking the shotgun, Mason waited just before the bubble dropped before screaming, "Prepare your anus!" as he blasted apart one of the flametroopers.

Several of the White Fang guards were jumping down off the walls now, swords, axes and other melee weapons drawn as they began cutting down the remaining survivors. A pair of the Faunuses were trying to cut down the redhead, but he was able to block the first's overhead slice before blasting him backwards with a shell from Bas, using the backwards momentum to slam the stock of the gun into the other's chest before spinning around in an anti-clockwise motion to slice the Faunus' chest open.

Before he had a chance to watch the man drop to the ground, a section of the surrounding walls blasted apart, scattering debris and flailing bodies everywhere as two figures stepped through the smoke.

* * *

"Drop your weapons and we might not kill you!" Tanner shouted, firing several Dust rounds at the White Fang soldiers along the walls while T jumped down next to him before taking off at a sprint.

He was quick to extend an explosive charge out of his right arm before flinging it towards the White Fang lieutenant standing on the balcony. There wasn't enough force behind the throw, so the disc fell short and stuck onto the balcony instead, giving the lieutenant the time he needed to retreat into the tower before it exploded.

 _Target lost. Recalculating strategy…Strategy recalculated = Activate contingency assets._

Almost a dozen calculations were running through the hackers mind as he held his Scroll close to his face, swiping his finger across the screen and activating all the dormant Atlesian androids. While he was doing that, T's proximity alarm started blaring in his mind as a mercenary wielding a sledge hammer charged at him at full speed.

Ducking under the swing, he straightened out his prosthetic arm to its full length. With the momentum of the duck and pivoting in a clockwise motion, T flicked a combat knife – holding it backhandedly before digging it deep into the man's throat, only realising at the last minute that he was trying to save the man.

Kicking the man's corpse off his knife, several bullets dug into the hacker's Aura as he dropped to the ground in a rolling motion while hiding behind a deployable wall that someone planted into the ground. The hard steel alloy even protected him from a stray rocket-propelled grenade as he cleared some of the terrorists on the stone wall opposite him with his silenced pistol, improving his momentary safe spot.

The only problem was that he wasn't the only one hiding behind the deployable barricade.

The two shared a look before pointing their weapons at each other. Unsure of how to talk his way out of the conundrum, he lowered his weapon slowly, giving the other man indication that he should lower his.

"Kane Carnage." The man introduced, tilting his head to the side slightly to dodge a stray shuriken.

"T."

"What the fuck kind of name is Tee?" he asked as he flung one of his oddly shaped machetes at one of the gunners on the walls. "This is a right ass-end mess we've gotten ourselves into." The weapon knocked the Faunus gunner off the wall before flying back towards them. T was about to intercept the projectile, but Kane reached out his hand and caught the hilt.

"Backup's coming." T muttered as he fired at a couple of White Fang gunners on the wall facing their deployable cover.

As he said that, the concrete ground underneath them erupted as various androids began crawling out of the opening – guns hot and firing in various directions as they made menacing artificial groans and low cries. This time, the hacker remembered to give the androids the command _not_ to just shoot anyone – even if they shot first. It was always the beauty of having a synthetic army in T's mind; they were expendable.

However, T wasn't paying attention to the chaos and destruction the androids were causing as he focussed his vision on a pair of White Fang soldiers along the wall seeming to be fighting air, swords bouncing off an invisible wall.

"Good, he's here."


	14. Chapter 9

Crossroads of Fate

 **A/N: Funny thing, the character, Kane, is actually based off one of my long-distance friends. We still keep in touch, and I asked if he could create one for the story. So, after a few tweaks and writing magic, we got Kane Carnage; the redshirt character. Now, don't let that fool you, he will make several returns in the future, there just won't be major focus on him.**

 **Now, sorry to keep you waiting. I just realise how frustrating these Author's Notes can be, that is if I don't want to rant about my private life.**

* * *

 **Same time…**

Utter chaos.

If SK had to describe what he saw before him in the courtyard of this once-respectable stronghold in two words, those would've been it.

The place was in total anarchy as people fought recklessly for themselves while the White Fang began picking off various individuals. _Leave it to the Faunus to organize something like this._ SK thought as he rolled past the swing of a machete.

He was fighting for his life on one of the four walls that surrounded the fortress, currently having to deal with three Faunuses at once. What they had in sheer numbers, the rogue made up for with his Vanish and skilled swordplay.

After successfully parrying away one of their broad swords, SK ran his scimitar through the White Fang soldier behind him who was rearing up to strike. The black-haired teen even surprised himself with how well he was holding out against the Fang as he flung the dying Faunus' body off his sword and off the edge of the wall. Keeping his body low, he was able to dodge an overhead swipe from one of the other Faunus' scimitars before slicing out at his legs. This caused the girl to drop to the ground as SK sprang back to his feet and spun around in a decapitating swipe.

He took a moment to draw his blade back as he readied himself for another fight with the last of the soldiers on the wall, before realising his tactical advantage. Aiming Yakmak at the Faunus, he simply twisted the knob on its side to split apart the blade of the scimitar and fire a beam of Dust energy at his opponent, knocking him off the wall to be sliced apart by the mad skirmish below.

Lowering his blade into a ready position, SK scanned the other sides of the walls to look out for any more opponents, when he saw one man in particular fending off the White Fang soldiers along the base of the wall. The boy had dark brown hair and was using a combination of Dust infused bullets and a form of Dust coating on his sabre.

Reflex kicked in when a White Fang soldier with an axe took a running start at the swordsman while his back was turned. Hefting his laser rifle, the rogue fired a beam that hit the Faunus square in the chest. The swordsman took notice and turned to his saviour before giving a friendly wave.

SK hesitantly waved back as he turned his attention back down to the scene in the courtyard. The more he stared at it, the more the rogue began to realise that it wasn't one big war, but rather a bunch of individual skirmishes that were taking place around each other. One fighter amongst them all stood out in particular, and SK couldn't help but zoom in on the figure.

He had a large red afro and his leather harness and pieces of body armour were almost as covered in blood as the shirt and pants he wore underneath them. Focussing on his glasses to detect the long range sounds, he was able to filter out the noise of the battle to hear the man's inhuman war cries and cheers for the blood of his enemies. What worried him most was the familiarity of the figure; SK was sure he had seen him somewhere before. _Maybe from back in Vacuo. He might have been on the…watch…list…oh dear Oum, no._ SK's eyes widened as he made the connection in his mind.

His Scroll pinged loudly in his pocket at that same moment. Looking around, he saw that the fighting wasn't being drawn in his direction, so he quickly ducked down behind the raised barrier along the wall to open the Scroll. Finding an anonymous message in his inbox, he opened it and found that the message was written in large bold letters.

'YOU HAVE SEEN THE BODIES. WILL YOU STAND IDLY OR WILL YOU FIGHT?'

Closing the message, he checked the location of the counter-virus' source to find that it originated from within the courtyard of the fortress. _It can't be a coincidence._

With a deep breath, SK took a chance and rounded the small barrier to oversee the mess of androids, White Fang and mercenaries clashing amongst themselves below, trying to spot out his mystery hacker. All the while, he noticed that the androids were not fighting alongside the White Fang, but against them.

 _He must be one hell of a hacker._ SK thought as the fighting seemed to be dying down with the reduced White Fang numbers, until one particular White Fang stepped out of the central tower, grabbing an android by the neck and crushing it with just one hand.

Swiping his finger across the frame of his glasses, SK zoomed in on the figure as seemed to be adjusting a pair of large gauntlets on his arms, before four blades shot out of either one.

 _Oh, this should be interesting…_

His attention on the scene was drawn away by a loud growl from behind. Turning around, he saw that several Grimm were trying to scale the wall while others were pouring into the stronghold through the large opening. _If I'm going to get any answers, I'll need to take care of them first._ He concluded as he raised his sword, ready for another fight.

* * *

"Bloody right that these wankers can't aim." Kane glowered as he tossed one of his curved machetes at another White Fang soldier as T performed a check on the status of the androids he was controlling.

More than half of them had already been destroyed by the White Fang around them, but they made up for it with the body count of dead militia-men. They had also secured the Bullhead hidden behind the central tower – cutting off the White Fang's only means of escape. It helped that the rogue arrived on time as he worked quickly to clear the gunners along the walls. Admittedly, T had been a little hesitant initially about leading the Raider here, but the opportunity to gain an infiltrator with his ability was too good to pass up.

All he needed to do now was wait for the lieutenant to join the fight.

As predicted, the White Fang lieutenant stepped out of the central tower to make his last stand. He now wore his signature bladed bracers, specially modified for his own close-quarter and long-range needs. T had read up on the Faunus' dossier; he knew everything there was to know about the man.

The hacker could bring up the bat Faunus' psychological profile that the Faunus probably didn't even know existed with just a thought, but right now that wasn't important. Bringing up the Lieutenant's weapons and equipment schematics in his mind, he began planning the best course of action.

 _Dense steel blades, medium-to-long range machine pistol, compact flamethrower…curious…advanced gliding system…_

T's thoughts were broken as he watched a pair of bat-like metal wings extend out from the Faunus' back, attached to him by a harness. "Traitor! Prepare to perish!" The Lieutenant shouted theatrically as he extended all eight blades out of his gauntlets.

The tracker took one look at the Lieutenant before looking back at T. "Uh, right then. I'll leave this bugger to you." He said before his machete flew back into his hand while running off to confront several Grimm that were headed his way.

 _Scroll hack; 78% complete. Just need two more minutes._ He thought as he readied his own metallic arm. Extending it at a right-angle to his body, he taunted the Lieutenant with the pistol in his left hand.

Without needing extra provocation, the Lieutenant used the added propulsion of his gliding pack to dash straight into T with his foot-long blades pointed straight at him. The hacker managed to fire three shots that bounced harmlessly off the gauntlets and harness before having to roll to one side to dodge the charge attack.

Unfortunately, T wasn't expecting the Lieutenant to be able to stop his charge so quickly. As he redirected the propulsion force of the gliding pack, he was able to slow to a skid before firing his boosters again, delivering a devastating punch that ate into T's Aura.

As he was thrown back several feet, he saw his Aura gauge drop tremendously while a sharp pain ran through his chest. Changing his strategy, he quickly directed half a dozen AK Type-120s to attack the Lieutenant and distract him.

They all charged the levitating Faunus with their blades drawn and with synthetic growls while T checked his wounds. He barely had time to move his overcoat and examine himself before the hacker was forced to roll to one side to avoid a plunging sword.

On his back on the hard concrete floor, T was at a tactical disadvantage to the White Fang swordsman that was approaching him. He had dropped his silenced pistol during his fight with the Lieutenant, and was quickly running out of options as the Faunus approached.

As he prepared to resort to the automatic pistol in his metal arm, the berserk war-monger he had identified as Mason Mars pounced on the swordsman and quickly buried his sword in the Faunus' throat, laughing maniacally as he did.

T recognised a greater threat when he saw one and quickly pulled out the syringes full of tranquilizer he had brought with him. Holding one in each hand, the hacker took a low sprint towards the redhead cannibal and jammed both into his back before flipping over him.

They met their mark and Mason paused in his evisceration of the corpse to examine and remove the empty syringes. He paused for a second to look at them curiously before looking at T accusingly. "Did you just try to tranq me, bro?"

Without replying, T rushed the man and sent a firm fist straight into Mason's jaw, effectively knocking him out. The hacker was surprised at the man's resilience to the tranquilizers; he knew from looking at his unofficial medical report that he had developed a natural resistance against most lethal diseases and biological weapons, but he thought that two shots of elephant tranquilizer would have worked.

The force of the punch had an unintended effect on T as well, as the strain he put into the hit stretched the wounds on his chest. "Argh, fuck." T groaned as he sank to one knee. Pushing his overcoat apart, he saw that the wounds were relatively shallow, but they were still bleeding.

Not wanting to leave himself vulnerable while the fighting was still going on, he turned back to face the White Fang lieutenant as the Faunus finished the last of the androids with a plunging attack from above.

Checking his Heads-Up-Display, T found that most of the androids under his control had been destroyed, and the remaining few were stationed around the hidden airship – standing guard in case someone decided to run away – while the others were busy holding off the encroaching Grimm.

As if attracting one by thinking of it, a Creep jumped off the wall behind him and growled menacingly. It was all talk though, as T quickly blew chunks of its head off with his pistol.

"Look around you!" T addressed the Lieutenant in a stern, hoarse voice. "Your forces are broken. This fortress is lost! It's over."

The Lieutenant took a moment to pause and look back and forth at the result of what was supposed to be a quick and easy massacre by a firing squad. After letting out a loud growl, his head snapped back towards T. "It isn't over yet! Come, traitor. Face me and we will see who the better fighter is!" he spoke as he grabbed a charging Beowulf by the neck and crushed its skull with his other hand, in a show of strength that T didn't really care about.

Pulling one of the several harpoons he had brought – strapped to his back under the coat he wore, he got into a ready position as he prepared to force this Lieutenant to run back home.

* * *

Emptying both pistols both ways down the length of the wall, Tanner cleared the last of the four lines of gunners. He was still on one knee as he wore off the shock of the impact, having propelled himself up on the wall by stepping on a charged Fire Dust crystal. Once the tingling feeling left his legs, he got back up and turned around to stare at the opposite wall that had been blown apart, creating a massive hole in the fortress' defence. Several resounding explosions went off around the large concrete stronghold as explosives and parts of some of the buildings scattered around the interior of the walls went off. It was then that his eyes landed on T, who seemed to be squaring off with a rather angry-looking White Fang Lieutenant, if the decorated mask was anything to go from.

 _Man, I can't wait to find the armoury around here._ He thought as he looked left and right to check that none of the terrorists were getting back up before taking a step too far off the wall.

Tanner dropped down off the wall and broke his fall by rolling before standing next to T. Even the brunette could clearly see that the cyborg was injured and probably couldn't take the Faunus on, even if the Faunus looked quite tired from fighting all the androids. The other White Fang soldiers – being the inexperienced amateurs they were – had been little trouble for the swordsman. The time it took for Tanner to clear the walls had even been halved by their new arrival, who he couldn't seem to find.

"You want me to take him?" Tanner asked as he held his sword at the ready. "It'll be fun on my part."

"No, I've got this." T snapped back. "Make sure the survivors don't kill each other."

Tanner hesitated for a moment before running off to help any of the survivors he could see. Astonishment hit the swordsman like a rock when he realised how few people had survived the ambush, despite looking quite well-armed.

While trying to make anything out of the smoke and smell of burnt flesh, the swordsman spotted one of the survivors he saw fighting alongside T earlier. The man was facing off against five White Fang soldiers by himself with his strangely shaped weapons.

In his flurry of quick dodges, weaves and attacks, he was able to slit the throat of one of the soldiers around him while knocking the other to the ground. Tanner took the opportunity to take aim with his flintlock pistol at the downed man, only to realise that it was out of ammunition. Again.

 _Barb, fucking dammit!_ He cursed in his mind as he put the pistol away in favour of using his Semblance to detonate any Dust on the Faunus. The brunette had detected a grenade on the Faunus' belt just as he caught a glimpse of the man with the curved machetes put sheathe one of his machetes in favour of using his hand. Tanner thought that it was a foolish tactic until he saw the tracker's hand start to glow a bright brown-maroon.

Placing the hand on the face of one of the soldiers around him, both the tracker's and the soldier's faces began to glow brightly with surging Auras that flared like a flame. Within seconds, the Faunus was screaming - not with pain, but with fear. Fear laced with anguish as the tracker released him and he slumped to the floor, his breathing slow and shallow. It was then the tracker realised that he still had two other opponents and rolled away just as they struck.

It was then that Tanner stopped spectating and took action by forcing his Aura forward and activating his Semblance. The Faunuses were shocked as they were when their grenades began glowing with an orange hue, but even more so when they exploded in a flurry of energy.

The intensity of the flames produced by the explosion was bright enough to force the tracker to shield his eyes, and the force of the explosion was enough to blow his hat off his head, revealing his head of straight, light-blonde and red-tinged hair.

After the explosion subsided, Tanner approached the tracker, picking up his hat, he handed the garment back to the surprised man. "You alright?" he asked, only slightly concerned about the man's well-being.

"Yeah." The tracker breathed out. "Thanks, mate. Kane Carnage." He said as he put the panama back on his head and stuck his hand out to shake.

"Vermillion, Tanner." He replied, shaking the man's hand quickly before taking out a Lightning Dust crystal and using it to fire a quick jolt of electricity at a small Ursa that was trying to sneak up on them. "Persistent, aren't they."

"Wankers just don't know when to quit." Kane said in his heavy accent – Tanner wasn't sure if he was talking about the Grimm or the Fang, as he was talking about the latter – before peering curiously around Tanner. "Oi, you think we should help him?"

Curious, Tanner turned around to see T and the White Fang Lieutenant standing off. In his left hand, T was holding one of his harpoons as a melee weapon. "Nah, he wants us to stay out of it." The swordsman waved off, confident that he could pick up from where T would leave off.

The standoff only lasted a second more before T and the Lieutenant charged towards each other. Extending the combat knife in his arm, the cyborg spun in a clockwise motion to parry the strike from the Lieutenant's right gauntlet before breaking his guard by knocking away his other hand with the harpoon. He then tried to impale the Faunus with the barbed end of the harpoon, but was unable to as he spread his metallic wings and glided backwards – out of T's reach.

The Lieutenant then tried to burn T from a distance with a flamethrower hidden in his gauntlet, but the flames fell short as T stuck the harpoon into the concrete ground, causing a large wall of obsidian to form in its place. The cyborg took several quick shots with the pistol in his arm by leaning around the corner of the barrier he had created, but was unable to do any real damage as the Lieutenant kept blocking the bullets with his gauntlets.

This all only seemed to wear T out as he took a few seconds too long to catch his breath behind the cover.

"Screw it. The drongo's going to get himself killed." Kane glowered under his breath as he readied both machetes while the Lieutenant jumped high enough into the air with the added propulsion to be able to grab on to the top of the wall of obsidian. Flinging both weapons, they flew at curved angles but ultimately missed the Faunus.

"You missed." Tanner remarked as he began reloading Crossed Star, thinking that _maybe_ T was worth saving.

However, before he could cock his flintlock, the blonde put a hand in front of his face. "Wait for it." Kane said as the curved machetes continued to curve in their flight before eventually flying straight into the Faunus, knocking him off the wall of obsidian. The weapons continued flying, however, and Tanner was starting to get worried that he might get hit.

Cocking the pistol, he aimed at the one that seemed to be flying straight at him before Kane stuck both hands out and caught both weapons by their hilts.

The Atlas-born swordsman was astonished for a moment by the man's skill and trick attack with such a strange weapon. "Not bad." Tanner complimented, which was quite rare for him. "Did you ever end up catching it by the blade?"

"If I did I wouldn't be able to keep throwing them." Kane bit back, but with a friendly smirk that the brunette easily returned.

The moment didn't last long as the loud repeating sound of a machine pistol was followed by several bullets sent flying their way. Tanner was quick to draw Beofield and hold it in a defensive stance as he deflected several bullets while the White Fang Lieutenant charged at them, firing the gun hidden in his other bracer as he did. The tracker had enough sense in him to raise his own machetes to deflect the bullets sent his way as Tanner began thinking of something witty to say to his opponent.

"Go for his right!" The brunette shouted as the Lieutenant leaped up into the air for a downward strike, which Kane sidestepped while Tanner raised both his weapons to block the plunge attack. Using the momentum that was transferred over to him, Tanner braced himself against the ground before pushing the bat Faunus backwards, sending him into the air once more. However, this time the Lieutenant opened up his gliding pack and slowed to a hover before spraying fire straight at the swordsman.

Hoping for the best, Tanner raised his pistol, aimed straight at the tendril of flame and pulled the trigger three times. _Please don't be Fire Dust. Please don't be Fire Dust._ He made a mental note to thank whoever was guiding him when he blindly reached into his ammo pouch for rounds when he reloaded, as the bullets exploded in a spray of water, extinguishing the fire and created a light fog.

This worked to Tanner's advantage and disadvantage. For one, now his enemy couldn't see him. _On the other hand, I can't see shit either._

He kept to a defensive stance again as he turned at every sound that was made. From the fog, he heard the clash of steel and grunts of pain before something heavy but soft hit the concrete ground. Eventually, Tanner decided that he wanted to have the upper hand for when they fought again and emptied the rounds of Dust in Beofield, replacing them with a single Wind Dust round. _Gotta be careful; I'm running low on Dust._ Pulling the trigger along the hilt of the sabre, it began glowing a sky-blue as a small hurricane began picking up around the blade of the sword.

Swinging his sword all around him to clear the fog, Tanner was partially surprised and partially scared when he saw that the Lieutenant charge towards him as the fog began to lift and swirl with his blade. The brunette barely had time to aim the blade of the sword before the Faunus was upon him, but long enough for him to send a light gust the Lieutenant's way, causing him to lose his momentum and balance as the gust of wind was caught on his open wing, sending him tumbling into Tanner.

When the tussle subsided, the swordsman found himself pinned underneath the Lieutenant – blades ready and raised right above his head, while his own weapons lay just out of his reach. Tanner first tried to reach for his sabre, which he couldn't reach because of how firmly the Faunus held him to the ground. While doing so, he also noticed that Kane was also lying on the ground a few feet away clutching his left thigh in pain as it bled out.

"You are more persistent than I imagined." The terrorist leader spoke through gritted teeth. "But you will still be crushed with the ease of an insect."

"What's the matter?" Tanner asked jokingly as he tried to reach for the flintlock on his other side. "Are we making you a little…batty?" _Uh, that one was so weak._

Without another word, the Lieutenant raised his fist into the air – the blades suddenly looking much sharper – before bringing his fist down on Tanner. The swordsman quickly closed his eyes so that he didn't have to see his end coming as he heard the Faunus' fist make contact.

Only, the sound was of the metal fist meeting concrete.

Opening one eye first, he saw that the Lieutenant was grunting in pain as he clutched the barbed end of a harpoon that stuck out of his shoulder. Looking to his right quickly, Tanner also saw that the shot was enough to make the Faunus miss by a few inches, the metal gauntlet firmly planted into the concrete.

The firm grip on his shoulders had also loosened, giving Tanner the opportunity he needed to reach for his pistol and place it against the Faunus' chest. The resounding blast sent Tanner skidding across the hard concrete for a few seconds, but it also served to blow the Lieutenant a few feet back, giving him time to regard T.

The cyborg extended an electric prod out of his robotic arm as he bent over to pick up his pistol. "I said I had him."

"You're welcome." Tanner glowered as he got back up and rubbed his sore neck.

Quick to get up again, the Lieutenant eyed up Tanner before the swordsman took a step back. "You're more than welcome to take him by yourself." He said as he transformed Beofield into its pistol form and stuck it in its sling.

"Gladly." T murmured as he surged forward in a burst of speed. Fighting with a combination of his electric prod and his gun at point-blank range, the cyborg quickly pushed the White Fang Lieutenant back, even with his advantage of height. T's offensives consisted an awful lot of non-lethal strikes with his electric prod for Tanner's taste, but it seemed to be wearing down the Lieutenant quickly.

After a few more quick punches to his chest, T ducked under a rather slow overhead swing before pushing the barrel of his gun into the Faunus' good shoulder and blowing a hole straight through it.

The shot caused the Lieutenant to stagger backwards before resting on one knee. "Give up," T spoke to the Lieutenant as he stopped right in front of him. "-you've lost."

After a few deep and shallow pants, the Faunus eventually spoke back. "You think you've beaten us? You've only scratched the surface of what we have in store for the world!"

"I'm counting on it." T said as he raised his pistol to the man's head. He didn't get a chance to pull the trigger as he quickly jumped backwards to avoid the tornado of fire that the Lieutenant produced before spreading his metallic wings and taking off. The updraft from the flames gave the bat Faunus the added height he needed to soar into the night sky – away from the fortress and in the direction of the broken moon.

Tanner took it as his queue to take aim and shoot the bat down, but T was quick to put his hand on his gun and lower it. The brunette looked at him, dumbfound. "What the fuck are you doing? You're letting him get away!"

"He'll lead us straight to Cinder." T affirmed as he raised his Scroll for Tanner to see. At first, he wasn't sure what he was looking at, but his arms relaxed and his eyes widened when he realised what it was.

"You put a tracker on him." Tanner murmured, acknowledging what T had done with a nod. "Good thinking." The swordsman tried to think of a pun at this point, but was quite exhausted as it was.

The cyborg seemed to acknowledge how tired Tanner was, as he spoke up. "It's not over yet."

"What do you mean?" T turned away as he asked that seeming to stare off into the large broken wall and the few Grimm that were more interested in eating the cadavers that they left than the living. Suddenly, he turned to face one of the more violent fighters. "Don't do it, Desert Raider!" he commanded while pointing at nothing…well it was nothing until the same man that helped him earlier materialised out of nowhere.

Up close, he looked to be in his late teens, had black hair and wore a dark-amber poncho over a dull-brown T-shirt with a cowl and black pants along with a pair of black glasses. In his hands, he held a scimitar that was pointed directly at the sleeping figure.

There was a moment of pause – likely the shock of having been called out, before the black-haired teen spoke again. "Do you know who this…monster is?" he asked rhetorically. "He's a cannibal, a murderer, and a psychopath!" the rogue's voice got louder as he listed off the different crimes of the man on the ground.

"Don't fer-get arse-un-ist" the drowsy man drawled as he seemed to be recovering from his drugging.

"He dies here and now; he's killed too many of my people to breathe another second." The man spoke as he raised his sword high above his head to decapitate the rising man, who slumped back to the ground after rising to one elbow. However, the sword didn't come down as T spoke his ultimatum.

"Kill him now and your people will have no chance of surviving what's coming."

The rogue seemed to have frozen solid for a moment before his arms relaxed as he turned to address T. "Why? What's coming? Who are you?" he suddenly bombarded the cyborg with questions as he began approaching, taking the time to step on the redhead's body.

T turned his Scroll to face him for a second before turning the black-framed device to face the rogue without a word. From the transparent glass of the device, Tanner could clearly see that T was showing the black-haired teen his symbol. He stared at the picture on the Scroll for a second before looking up at T with wide eyes. "The hacker with the counter-virus." He murmured silently. "Why did you lead me here?" he asked out loud.

"Hold on, I'm clearly missing something." Tanner spoke up. "Do you know this guy?"

"His name is SK Esinti. He's from Vacuo and was hired by Cinder to break into the CCT Tower in Atlas to infect the system with _my_ virus." T explained, to SK's wide-eyed surprise.

"H-how do you know that?"

"You're here because I led you here." T continued, not acknowledging SK's question. "Because I need your help to stop Cinder."

"Stop Cin-ok, what is going on? I want answers now or all you'll get is my sword!" the rogue countered. Tanner – himself – didn't expect such a fiery questioning from the man, _if_ what T said about him being born from Vacuo was true.

With a sigh, T removed a spherical projector from his pouch and dropped it on the floor. He gestured to Kane, who was standing idly by – watching the scene unfold. "Come here. You need to see this too."

For about four minutes, T explained Cinder's plan to them as he had for Tanner. He went over her forces, her end-goal, the designs she had in mind for each of the four Kingdoms, even the power of the Fall Maiden that she possessed. It all seemed very unbelievable, but at the same time sounded crazy enough to actually happen.

As the projector shut off, SK was the first to break out of his state of bewilderment and respond. "This is madness." He said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I know; it's pretty overwhelming at first." Tanner commented, which was neither welcomed nor refused by the two who seemed to be at a loss for words.

"I knew something was off about the job I was given." Kane pitched in. "Nobody orders for three dozen Beowulves and the likes for no reason."

"Wait, how many?" T asked. For the first time since meeting him, T sounded surprised – and that worried Tanner.

"Something along the lines of three rucksacks of hounds, two pins of porkers and a hell-of-a-lot of other critters." Kane explained.

"Um…English, please?" SK said, not really understanding what the tracker was talking about. Tanner couldn't blame him, he could barely understand half of what the man said.

With a groan, Kane tried again. "Three dozen Beowulves, two dozen Boarbatusks…and a bunch of others." He recited. "Thinking about it now, it makes a lick of sense if what you're saying is true."

"All the same, the Maidens are just a story. There's no such thing as magic or wizards." SK said defiantly.

"Haven't you felt something different about Cinder? Something...intimidating?" the rogue didn't respond, but he lowered his head in a form of understanding. "What I said was the truth and we need to move to…hold on." T said as he looked away, before his head suddenly snapped to one of the White Fang soldiers that were still alive, curled up into a ball and groaning in pain. He walked right over to the man before picking him up by his collar.

"Where is it?"

"Where's what?" the Faunus croaked back.

"Where are you keeping the back-up of the list of Pawns?" T clarified in a more threatening tone.

"Bite me. I'll never tell you." The Faunus spat back before actually spitting in T's face.

Letting go of the man, T extended the electric prod out of his fist and was about to continue with the interrogation before the blonde tracker put his hand on the cyborg's shoulder. "Relax, mate. Let me have a crack at him." He said before kneeling down. "I've got a score to settle as it is." Rubbing his hands together, one of them started glowing a dark-maroon as he reared back his open palm. "Remember: the more you resist, the more painful it gets."

With that, he slapped the Faunus in the face with his open hand and held on tightly while pinning him to the ground with his free hand. At first, it looked like the two had caught fire, but as Tanner watched, he found that it was just their Auras flaring. Barely two seconds had passed and the soldier looked on the verge of crying out in pain. His face was read and beads of sweat were dripping down his forehead. Before long, he let out a cry of anguish as vapour seemed to be coming off the man.

"That's enough!" SK suddenly shouted, breaking Kane out of his trance. To the brunette, the man seemed to have actually been taking some form of sadistic pleasure in watching the man scream in pain, but it disappeared completely once he let him go.

Getting back to his feet, Kane took a few deep breaths first before addressing T. "He'll tell you anything you want now."

"Anything?" Tanner asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Anything." He affirmed.

Tanner decided to have a little fun and test that theory. "Hey; how many girlfriends have you had?"

"Four." The Faunus replied with a dead look in his eyes and a weak tone of voice – completely different to the defiant, squirming Faunus that T held earlier.

"Are you still a virgin?" he continued.

"Yes."

"How did you do that?" SK asked, taken aback by what had just happened.

"It's all in the Semblance, mate." Kane replied with a light chuckle. "I burnt away at his will, so now he doesn't have the conviction left to resist."

"What's the point?" the Faunus asked rhetorically, wallowing in pessimism.

"Where are you leaders keeping the remaining lists of Pawns?" T questioned, getting back on track.

"In a server room underneath the old Sapphire Stronghold." The Faunus answered, his eyes blinking very slowly. "The boss thought you might be going for it so she made sure to station lots of guards by it."

Getting back up, T turned to face Kane. "Will he be like this forever?"

"Nah, mongrel will get back to normal in a few hours." Kane replied.

"This is the next phase of our operations: we need to break into that stronghold and destroy the list. It's on a closed network, so simply destroying the servers should-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, what do you mean 'we'?" SK asked, hysterical at this point.

"This is why I brought you here; if we're going to stop Cinder from bringing the world to ruin, we need to work together." He leaned slightly to look at the redhead's recovering body before regarding SK again. "All of us."

The black-haired rogue looked back and forth between him and the redhead for a moment before raising his voice. "You expect me to work with that…thing?" a split second later, he aimed his scimitar at the man and it transformed into a laser rifle, firing a beam at the redhead that knocked him unconscious yet again. "If you expect me to help you, then you'll let me kill it."

" _He_ is the muscle of this operation. The enemies we face are far stronger than we are, and we need a heavy hitter if we're going to beat them." Tanner found T's argument valid. He had watched the redhead berserker fight, and he could easily topple a Goliath on his own if he wanted.

However, SK didn't seem to agree. "Forget it." He stated as he sheathed his sword in the scabbard on his back. "I refuse to work with it. If what you say is true, then I will fight Cinder on my own accord, all-powerful Maiden or not."

"You will lose." T hissed at him. "You will lose and your death will mean _nothing_. Fight with us, and I promise you that I will do what I can to keep Vacuo out of the line of fire."

Leaning in closer to T, SK muttered into his side. "I'll keep Vacuo safe myself. I'll let that vile marauder live today, but one day I will return to kill it." He said in a louder voice as he backed away slowly. "And mark my words, if you stand in my way of exacting my revenge against Cinder you will know my-Gah!" he suddenly exclaimed as he tripped and fell backwards over a piece of concrete rubble.

Scrambling back to his feet, he stared at each of them as his face turned slightly red. "You get the picture." He said before drawing his sword, running off for the broken wall and disappearing.

"You're making a mistake! We need to beat her before she's whole!" T called out before leaning closer to Tanner. "He'll be back." He whispered.

"No offense, you two." Kane said as the blonde dusted himself off. "But I think I'll follow that bugger's lead and skedaddle. Fighting a terrorist organisation isn't really my thing and I very much like my life, but if you need my help for something small." He reached into the pocket of his tunic and tossed a paper card their way. "Here's my number."

Catching the card, Tanner felt a hint of disappointment as the man walked away. He expected T to say something like he did to the rogue, but he held his tongue. Out of the dozens of people that came here today, they seemed to be back at square one when it came to recruiting extra help.

"What now?" he asked as he pocketed the piece of paper.

Turning, T slowly began walking towards the stumbling figure with the red afro. "Now we fight monsters with monsters."

* * *

As the lingering effects of the tranquilizer agent had yet to wear off, Mason was left to ponder the meaning of life after he had been knocked down by a laser beam. That lasted for about three seconds before he began fighting the drowsiness in time to see the rogue disappear.

Seeing as that his attacker was gone, the berserker once again found himself stumbling to his feet like a drunkard to go find himself a can of cream soda and… _wait, this isn't my bedroom! And why are there dancing mushrooms with ripped bodies?_ He thought to himself as he rubbed the colours and shapes out of his eyes.

The effects began clearing quickly as he saw two men approach him slowly. _Good I'm starving…and horny._

"You're recovering faster than I anticipated." One of the men with a cyborg arm spoke.

"Should we be worried?" the other man asked.

"Yesh, you should." Mason said as he fumbled with reaching for his sword. "I'm gonna put holes through your head and stick my-"

"We need your help." One of them said. Before long, Mason began to realise that he was the man that knocked him out initially. Before he could ask why, the cyborg continued. "We need your help to find and kill the people that tried to kill you."

"Hah, jokes on you!" Mason declared as he pointed his sword at the two men. "That's the last time I accept a side-quest!"

"We can pay up front in miniguns and grenade launchers." He followed up his offer.

The redhead paused at the statement before giving off an eerie chuckle. "You think you can sway my allegiance with DPS? You've got another thing coming if-"

"We have a gunship."

"I'm in. Sign me up, I like this clan." He said with a change of heart. _I can kill sooo many people with a gunship._

"That was pretty easy." The brunette commented, sweeping his hand in the air. "To think, all this fucking mess could've been avoided if we just talked things through instead."

"Who says I didn't want this to happen?" the cyborg asked rhetorically. "Besides, talking's never been my style. Let's go."

"Right, let's gun it!" The swordsman said with a pause. "Cause we've got a gunship?" he continued with a wink.

"Shut up and set the charges."


	15. Chapter 10

Queen's Mistake

 **A/N: Now we get to the good stuff. We are fast approaching the moment that Team MSTT forms and takes the world by storm. We've also hit a minor milestone of 10 official chapters, which is exciting on its own.**

 **A/N/N: Sorry for the long delay, we're just experiencing "technical difficulties" over in the editing and beta-reading centre.**

 **Please remember to review and follow if you enjoy.**

 **Present Day…**

The first-person-perspective video that was playing on the holo-screen eventually ended with T and the others inside their Bullhead as it flew away from the old Lazuli Stronghold. The video stopped short of the fortress exploding from within – the fire and clouds of smoke spreading outwards from the central tower structure.

When the projector deactivated, Glynda let out a sigh. "Well, at least that explains what happened to that stronghold."

"I couldn't sleep at all that night." Mason muttered to himself, catching almost everyone in the room by surprise.

"Did you really feel that bad about it?" Jay asked with a sympathetic frown. _This is very unlike Mason, unless-_

"Nah bro, I was harder than ever." _Of course._ SK thought as he rolled his eyes. Everyone in the room shared a similar expression. "I couldn't sleep at all because I was-"

"Too much information!" Tanner yelled out, cutting Mason off. "Shut the fuck up!"

The room fell silent for a moment as the loose furniture shook with a thunderous vibration that seemed to come from everywhere. The rogue knew that it was just the battle being fought in Vale's streets to reclaim territory from the Grimm. So far from home, yet he could still understand these people's struggle.

The silence was eventually broken by Qrow's husky voice. "Well, I suppose you'll have to answer for what you did back there to the Mistralian government. Abandoned or not, that stronghold is-was Mistralian property."

"Qrow, we-" T tried to reason, but Qrow cut him off again.

"However, considering that we have no way to contact Mistral, and the fact that the stronghold was taken over by a terrorist group, I'd say we could let this one slide." He said with a growing smirk as he turned to the blonde woman. "What do you think, Glynda?"

"I suppose we can let this one slide." She said with a huff. "But they still have a lot to answer for."

"You've got to hear us out first." Tanner joined in the conversation. "We're on your side, Goodwitch – believe it or not."

"That's still to be debated." Jay breathed out before turning his attention to SK. "You practically walked out on the team back there – walked out on this…whatever this is." He said as he gestured towards the blank holo-screen. "What made you change your mind?"

The black-haired teen turned away to let out a sigh before responding. "After a few more run-ins with them, I realised…" he said the last three words so quietly, not even Mason – with his enhanced Faunus hearing – could hear them.

"What was that?" Tanner asked in a sing-song voice, a wide grin plastered on his face.

"I was wrong! Ok, I was wrong about you, about T, about the Maidens…still not sure about Neo, but you get the idea." SK confessed quickly.

"Well, to be fair none of us really believe in them either." Qrow said, probably trying to appeal to the black-haired teen's ingrained sense of justice.

"Yet."

"Hey, what about me?" Mason whined.

"Oh, I was wrong about you too." SK spoke in a bitter tone. "You're far worse than the rumours make you out to be."

"Thank you."

"Let's not get side-tracked." Jay reminded. "I want to know what happened next."

Mason had already opened his mouth and was getting ready to speak, when Qrow cut him off. "Slow down, kid. First off I want to know more about this…Gambit Protocol."

"What else is there to know; it's like a Blacklist." Tanner said as he idly tied his glowing scarf around his neck – no one speaking up to stop him.

"Stop calling it that." T spat in a low voice.

"Why not, they're almost the fucking same thing." Tanner countered.

" _Almost_ being the key word." T said as he tapped several lights that appeared across the shiny-black table, causing several digital files to open up. As if the files were real, the hacker flung them across the table towards Qrow and Glynda. "The majority of people on the sharp-end of the Gambit Protocol were designated as Pawns; expendable assets that didn't know too much about what Cinder was planning and could only be traced back to people like Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. Mercenaries, thieves, smugglers, gunmen, even if they were hired by Cinder herself, if they were a part of Gambit Protocol, they could only be traced back as far as Torchwick – at best."

"Not anymore they can't." Jay muttered under his breath, unconsciously. However, the comment didn't go unnoticed.

"What do you mean, 'not anymore'?" SK inquired, seeming to snap the blonde boy out of his daze. He looked fearfully at Qrow like the older man was going to be angry with him for letting the comment slip, but Qrow just looked on with a neutral expression at the teen before sighing.

"Y'know, your father had trouble keeping things to himself as well." Qrow commented. "It's what made him dangerous. What Jay's talking about is that Roman Torchwick died during the Grimm invasion."

SK couldn't believe what he heard at first, but looking at the shocked expressions about his teammates, he knew he had heard right. A wave of enthusiasm washed over him, following the shock of the revelation as a wide smile stretched across his face.

T seemed to be wearing a similar – if not more reserved – expression on what he could see of his face, while Mason didn't seem to care too much. The only person that seemed to really stand out among them was Tanner.

His face looked torn between forlorn and relieved, which was understandable from what SK had learned about him. Although, it did little to dampen his ecstatic mood.

"Are you sure?" Tanner finally asked as he stood out of his chair, though his voice was wavering like it would either break or harden at a moment's notice.

"Well, if you trust Ruby's word for it; the bastard was eaten by a Griffon." Qrow explained while SK was having an internal celebration of the hand Oum had dealt against the man. After trying to kill the orange-haired gangster for so long, it felt good to know that he was finally gone.

The brunette swordsman let out a sigh as he sat back down. "Well, good riddance I guess." He muttered, though his voice sounded more sure this time.

"We know you were close to him, and that he protected you when you were younger, so we extend our condolences – if means anything." Glynda tried to comfort Tanner, but the rogue knew that Tanner would just push it away.

"You don't have to pity me, he was in league with a monster; it had to be done." Tanner spoke, but he did not look the professor in the eye.

"Very well." She said as she turned towards T. "You may continue."

With a nod, T went on. "Supposedly, Cinder created Gambit Protocol shortly after I turned against her to prevent more 'Pawns' from turning or becoming a loose-end once they outlived their usefulness."

"Who decided which 'Pawn' was no longer useful, then?" Qrow questioned further.

"Cinder always had the final word in who was no longer useful, and she alone had the clearance to flip the switch on their protocols."

"Was anyone on the list spared?" Glynda asked, sounding slightly hopeful for some reason.

"Spared willingly, no. However, after we got word out to the people on the list that they were on death-row, they were more than happy to turn their backs on Cinder." Tanner explained. "Many were hunted down – most didn't make it, but I couldn't care less if any actually got away from the bitch."

"So how were people on this Blacklist chosen?" Jay asked, which caused Tanner to jump out of his seat.

"See! It's not just me! He called it a Blacklist too!" Tanner shouted at T as he pointed at the stunned blonde boy.

"You can call it whatever you want." T said, his voice slowly rising. "You can call it a Blacklist, you can call it Hummingbird, you can fucking call it Order 66 and I still couldn't give a shit! The point is that it worked," he spoke as he slowly sank back into his chair. "-until we stopped it."

There was a silence that lasted two whole seconds before Qrow spoke up again. "And how did you stop it?"

* * *

 **Roughly three months before Volume 1…**

"Are you fucking mental!" Tanner shouted over the holographic display of the Sapphire Stronghold at Mason. "That would kill us all!"

At the outburst, the redhead just shrugged before replying with, "You said you wanted to neutralize the White Fang scrubs in the fortress, you never said you had to survive."

"I'm sorry, dick-for-brains, but I usually like to come back from a hostile takeover mission!" Tanner retorted. "Anyway, we can't detonate a nuclear warhead so close to the Kingdom; the radiation would kill several of the civilians – not to mention the villagers around the damn fort!"

"Well fuck the civilians!" Mason retorted back. "I'm in this for the revenge and piles of dead orphan children!"

"Enough!" T's loud voice had an echo effect as it bounced around with the aid of several loudspeakers placed around the table that had been set up in front of his desk of computers. "Now, let's go over what we know."

"Sapphire Stronghold is an old war-time fortress. Since then, a village has slowly grown around the fortress which used to use the fortress as their town centre until the White Fang moved in." T explained as little holographic notes and details appeared above several spots on the holo-map. "According to several dispatched drones and information gathered by Tanner, the people living in the village are in some sort of agreement with the Fang to leave each other alone. This doesn't mean we can just bombard the fortress and the village with warheads."

"Aww, then what did I spend all my time building this for?" Mason whined as he hefted the nuclear warhead in one hand.

"Please put that away. I don't want to die today – let alone by a stupid misfire from your fucking bomb." Tanner groaned.

"It won't go off; whoever built it did a shoddy job." T remarked after taking one glance at the explosive.

This remark caused the redhead to gasp in mock-hurt as he clutched the bomb close to his chest. "How dare you! Don't listen to the big dumb man." He said, cooing the explosive. "Daddy will always love you."

Tanner rolled his orange-coloured eyes at the mad berserker. "A murderer and a defective son; what a lovely family." He muttered.

"Hey, he is not defective!" Mason shot back. "I'll show you." He said as he primed the trigger on the device.

The dark brunette instantly went from judgemental to fearful for his life in a matter of milliseconds as he began to take a few stumbled steps backwards. "Don't you dare!"

It was too late, though, as Mason slammed down on the trigger. Tanner could feel all the blood and colour draining from his…everything as he curled and shielded his face from the explosion – for whatever good that would do.

Two whole seconds passed by and there was still no white-hot, searing flame to engulf him and disintegrate him off the face of Remnant. Slowly, he opened one eye to peer through the cracks of his fingers. His sense of hearing recovered from the shock of the moment just in time to hear the redhead mash the button several times.

"Why isn't it working?" he grumbled as he slammed his fist on the button several times.

"You can't detonate a bomb without the explosives." T remarked as he raised a cylindrical canister from behind his side of the table. Tanner also noted that throughout the whole incident, T barely showed any emotion or expressions even remotely similar to what Tanner had gone through. _The son of a bitch knew…_

For a moment, Mason's expression was stuck on bewilderment before it turned into anger. "Did you tamper with my baby?"

"I believe I did. But that's past the point." The cyborg said as he rolled the canister across the table and back to Mason. "Nothing that can cause mass-damage; I still need to find out if the servers are working with a closed server wired to any other fortresses."

"You can find out from their charred remains." The redhead grumbled.

"No, because by then it will be too late." T's voice rose in tone. "I need to find out _if_ the servers are connected, so that I can send a virus through the servers to infect the others."

"And we can't just go barging in there without properly knowing what they have in store for us." Tanner followed up. "So the real question is; what's wrong with your drones?"

"There's nothing 'wrong with my drones'." The cyborg bit back, pulling the mask around his mouth down. "Something is just interfering with the signal that's preventing me from flying them over the base."

"Can't you just…I don't know, hack around the interference?" Tanner suggested half-heartedly. In truth, he knew only the basics about performing reconnaissance. More often than not, he would either bribe or pry the information out of one who knew the layout of the building.

The question caused T to pause in his pacing to stare at Tanner with a deadpanned look. "That is the stupidest suggestion I've ever heard of?"

The rebuke brushed Tanner the wrong way and his face immediately turned into a scowl. "Well then what do you suppose we do, since you're so fucking smart?"

"This is why we needed that rogue; he would've been able to sneak in and out of the base and provide us with a layout. However, since we are on our own, we have to do our own close-up recon of the area."

The swordsman was confused for a moment as he cleared his throat to get the cyborg's attention. "Um, what the hell have I been doing for the past two hours then?"

"We don't just need a background check of the fortress and the Fang, we need to actually get _into_ the fortress and see what they have in store for intruders…or in our case-"

"Renovators." Mason finished for him, causing everyone to send the redhead berserker strange looks. "What? That's essentially what we're doing."

Tanner couldn't even put in the effort to make another snide remark. Having not slept for whole day took more out of him than he thought, especially since he was constantly active.

"Overwatch, is the airship prepped for launch?" T asked, the question seeming to be directed towards the ceiling.

"Yes, Captain Ásta-yes, Captain. She's all fuelled up and ready for take-off." A smooth, feminine voice replied. Not for the first time today, hearing the disembodied voice echo through the rooms of the apartment made Tanner jump slightly.

Even after having lived in the apartment for several weeks and hearing Overwatch on a daily basis, it still spooked the swordsman in a manner he couldn't express with words.

"Perform pre-flight checks and have the airship ready in five minutes." T ordered as he deactivated the holographic projector on his smooth, polished, wooden table with his Scroll.

"At my processing power, I'll still have enough time to make myself a soufflé while contemplating the nature of the Grimm." Overwatch quipped in response before the dim lights of the apartment slowly got brighter.

Without another word, T walked off to one of the rooms he had strictly laid out as 'off-limits' to both Tanner and Mason – leaving the swordsman very much confused as to what he was supposed to be doing. Punching the passcode to the number-pad on the side of the door, the brunette was able to bring his mind to the present just as the cyborg was about to shut the door behind him.

"Hey, what are we supposed to do?" he asked, causing T to pause in his motion.

There was a point in time that Tanner wasn't sure whether or not the cyborg would actually answer his question – as Tanner still had a long list of unanswered questions because of the man's stoic nature, but he huffed internally with relief as T turned his head to face him.

"Go to the armoury, help yourself to the ammunition, and be ready in five minutes…and make sure Mason doesn't detonate that bomb." Was all T said before slamming the door shut, where locks and magnets could be heard locking into place.

* * *

Mason felt cheated out of his deal.

When the guy with the metal arm said that they have a gunship, he failed to elaborate upon the fact that he wasn't _allowed_ to pilot said gunship.

But man, it was a sweet gunship.

With twin chainguns mounted on either side of the nose of the airship and four pod-missile launchers on either wing, the metal bird of destruction could easily level a city block with one salvo. And – as what Mason would consider the cherry on top of this cake of death and desolation, a retractable machine gun mount was concealed on either side of the airship to fire out of the hatches on the sides of the airship.

Yes, it was a sweet gunship, though it would be a lot sweeter if he wasn't confined to one of the foldable passenger seats in a 'time-out' fashion while the pimp with the gay scarf constantly kept an eye on him.

"What's our ETA?" Tanner shouted, directing the sound of his voice to the cockpit with his hand while never taking his eyes off Mason.

"Our estimated time of arrival is, three minutes." The digital female voice replied from one of the speakers mounted on the walls of the airship.

"Thank you." The swordsman quickly responded awkwardly while glancing down at the sword on his lap. From the tight look on Tanner's face, the redhead berserker had a rough idea of what he was thinking of. The stone-hard look in his eyes and the way the skin on his face tightened meant that he could only be thinking of one thing.

"Thinking about your bitch?" Mason inquired with an offhand tone.

The question caused the brunette's head to snap to attention. "What?"

"I know that look." Mason explained with a growing smirk. "I've seen it before; mostly when dinner's thinking about their bitch right before I tear them limb from limb."

Closing his eyes for a moment, Tanner looked as if he were about to retort as his grip on the hilt of his sword tightened. However, after closing and opening his mouth twice, he finally responded with a simple, "Please shut up."

 _Ooh, feisty._ "Soo, tell me; what's she like?" Mason inquired while leaning forward on his hands slightly, causing the brunette to lean backwards.

"I said, shut up." He replied with a cold glare.

"Was she tasty?"

Without warning, Tanner got up out of his seat and set his sabre against the hull of the airship while quickly approaching the berserker. "What fucking part about 'shut up' do you not get? Are you brain-dead or something you stupid piece of shit?"

Acting completely unfazed by the swordsman's sudden outburst, Mason simply shrugged his shoulders. "Just wanted to know a little about your slut." He said in a tone that made it sound like he was the one who had been offended.

That seemed to be Tanner's tipping point, as he picked Mason up with a clump of his ginger afro in one hand and the leather strap of his armour in the other. "Call her that one more time and I swear I'll-"

"Enough."

Tanner's shouting quickly died down at the sound of T's voice and footsteps as he walked into the passenger compartment of the airship. The cyborg had a hand on his holster and was carefully eyeing the situation to assess whether or not it would escalate to fighting. Or, at least that was Mason's best guess at what that look meant.

"Put him down, Vermillion." He ordered, which Tanner only complied to after a few seconds passed. It took a few seconds more for the swordsman to rip his hands away from the redhead.

"Ow, easy on the hair." Mason grumbled as Tanner let go.

"We've arrived." T continued just as he felt the Bullhead rock slightly from landing. The hatches of the airship slid apart a split second later to reveal that they had landed in a forest clearing.

Without another word, Tanner stormed out of the airship, making sure to stomp louder than necessary as he stepped off the VTOL.

"Sheesh, sensitive much?" Mason asked T, who didn't offer much in reply.

"You remember what you're supposed to do?" the cyborg asked Mason in return, completely ignoring the argument that had occurred.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. I stand and guard the ship while you two lovebirds go and do whatever until you give the order to attack, blah blah blah." Mason droned while waving his hand dismissively.

"This is important." T continued, his tone taking a serious tone. "This airship is our ace-in-the-hole if things don't go as planned. It's our evacuation and aerial support, making it imperative that we do not lose it."

"Don't worry, no one's going to be blowing up this bad boy while I'm guarding 'im." The redhead reassured as he patted the side of the Bullhead.

"Alright. Radio in if there's any trouble." T concluded as he pulled a lever on the wall of the ship to deploy one of the machine-gun mounts by the hatch. "Use this if you have to. It's a 'she', by the way." He reminded as he stepped off the airship and followed in the direction Tanner went.

Now that everyone else was gone, Mason cracked his knuckles as he shifted over to the cockpit. Getting down on his knees, he began pulling back a panel to reveal a mesh of wires, licking his lips in anticipation.

* * *

T hadn't really meant most of what he had said to the cannibal back there. If anything, the ship-board intelligence was a more competent pilot and gunner than any Human or Faunus – and would keep a sharp eye on the redhead. He just needed an excuse to keep Mason out of trouble until they needed him to storm the stronghold.

His next concern was Tanner and his confrontation with the cannibal back on his Bullhead. Just from the profile he had been able to compile of the swordsman, T knew that it was going to be a challenge for the two of them to work together. His calculated thinking would no doubt clash with Tanner's passionate and emotive thinking, but T knew that he could deal with it when the time came – one way or another.

It didn't take long for the hacker to find the Atlas-born brunette, as he left a trail of charred flora and embers in his wake. In the low light of that evening, T clearly spotted the swordsman out by his burning scarf. _At least we're headed towards the fortress…_

"Stop." He exclaimed firmly just as Tanner kicked a broken branch out of his way. At the sound of his voice, the brunette quickly turned to face T and marched right in front of him.

"Out of all the fucking lunatics at that stronghold, why the fucking hell did we take him with us?" T noticed that Tanner's Aura was starting to flare and it showed in the form of the increase in cinders that fell from his scarf.

"I know you're angry, but-"

"Angry? Don't start with me about angry! I've had to put up with that psycho's shit for the past week!" he began ranting. "He smells, leaves a mess of the place, and don't even get me started with how he breaks into my room and uses my stuff. I was willing to let it all slide, but he does not talk about Hannah like she's just some kind of street whore!" by then end of his angry shouting, Tanner's voice finally cracked and he had to swallow hard to fight back against the emotions underneath the surface of his skin.

Deep down, some part of T wanted to sympathise with the swordsman just for how dedicated he was to that girl, but he didn't have time for petty squabbles or the brat's attitude with so much at stake. "You wanted to kill Adam; this is what we've got to do to force him out into the open. Now, if you don't think you're up for keeping a low profile, then you better go back to guarding the ship with Mars." T said, giving his ultimatum.

Tanner was silent for a moment before he spoke again, in a calmer voice this time. "She meant the world to me, and I loved her, so you can be damned sure I'm going to kill the son of a bitch that killed her. But I also won't take any shit talk directed at her from anyone, clear?"

"Are you with me, or not?" T hissed in reply. _I really don't have time for this._

Anger flared in Tanner's eyes for a moment before dying down to a few cinders, much like the scarf wrapped around his neck. "Fine." He grumbled through gritted teeth. "Let's just go do this so I can get a coffee or something." Without another word, he turned around on his heel and began marching towards the fortress, just barely visible above the trees. Sighing internally, T followed closely behind him.

It took a solid six minutes of walking for them to reach the borders of the village, and another two minutes to get close enough to Sapphire Stronghold. The villagers didn't offer much in ways of greeting, but they didn't inquire too much about the two new visitors either.

They hid a safe distance away in the shadow of one of the buildings close to the fortress. This was different, however. Unlike Fort Lazuli, this stronghold was more like a castle and was built to outlast sieges instead of fight against them, designed with several rooms to store supplies and vantage points to wear out their attackers. On top of that, going on the offensive meant that they were going to have to fight a literal uphill battle.

In his mind, T already had a schematic of the stronghold's layout, but it was outdated and didn't account for any renovations the White Fang may have done in the time since they took over.

"See anything I don't?" Tanner asked as he lowered his binoculars from his face. With one hand over his Human eye, T focussed his tunnel vision on certain spots of activity along the wall of the stronghold – carefully watching White Fang goons carry out their business. However, because of the design of the castle, not much could be seen beyond the concrete walls that made up the fortress.

"Depends. What do you see?" T responded as he lowered his hand to his side.

"Well, aside from a few Faunus extremists chatting and carrying about heavy Dust-based weaponry, not much. You?" Tanner spoke in a casual tone of voice as he took a moment to lean against the wall of the hut they were hiding behind.

They were getting nowhere with this, and T recognized it. "We need to get a closer look." He spoke up as he took a few steps forward. He was almost out of the evening shadow of the building when a familiar voice froze him in his tracks.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

For the first time in a while, the hacker found himself getting caught off-guard as he spun around in surprised as the familiar rogue materialised out of thin air.

Arms folded with a tired look in his eyes, he stared directly at T, who returned the look in earnest. Tanner was initially startled by SK's sudden appearance, but quickly calmed down.

'Where the fuck did you come from?" Tanner was quick to ask as one of his hands flew to the hilt of his pistol.

However, as T pinpointed the black-haired teen's Scroll signature, he noticed that he had been following them for quite a while. Since their encounter at Fort Lazuli, SK did something to his Scroll that purged it of the tracking software T had hidden in the deep layers of the device's protocol, and the hacker had been unable to track him.

"More importantly, how long have you been following us?" T followed up Tanner's question with his own, keeping his hands at his sides.

Shrugging his shoulders, the rogue moved to lean with one hand against the wooden hut. "I saw you two enter the village."

"I'm guessing you're after the list too?" The hacker inquired further, already knowing why SK was here. It wasn't because he was after the list of 'Pawns' or even because this was a convenient start to his revenge ploy against Cinder.

It was because he had nowhere else to start from.

"Maybe." He replied as he pushed off the wall of the hut. "Look, since our last meeting I've had some time to think…and I guess it only makes sense to work with you – since we're going after the same person."

 _He's not going to elaborate further._ T thought to himself as he formulated his response. "Sorry, job offer's closed."

That caught SK's attention as his eyes widened and his glasses slid down his face slightly. Even Tanner had a look of surprise on his face; reasonable considering how T mentioned several times that the rogue would eventually come around.

The shocked look on SK's face quickly faded, to be replaced by an irritated scowl. "You're joking, right?"

"I asked for your help and you refused. We don't need you anymore." He said, with every intention of leading the rogue on until he got exactly what he wanted without having to ask.

"It didn't sound like that a moment ago."

"We can do our own scouting from here on out." Tanner chipped in. T smiled internally as the swordsman seemed to be catching on to what he was doing. "Might be a little more tricky, but we'll manage. Thanks."

"You haven't been inside the fortress yet. I have." He raised his voice slightly as his expression became very stern. "Trust me; you won't last ten minutes against them without my help."

"Try me."

There was a momentary pause as SK chewed on his lower lip. For a split second, T became worried that the black-haired boy actually wouldn't give up the information, but that was before he opened up his mouth.

"They have an invisible force field covering the entire stronghold at all times." He explained. "The damn thing will protect that castle from just about anything. It's backed up by a short-range signal jammer that interferes with most Scrolls and Android signals. Along with that, the Fang's taken extra precaution to bury several splinter mines around the base. I can point out the hotspots where we're most likely to step on one and lose a limb. To top it all off, they've got several anti-aircraft turrets hidden behind some of the walls…does anyone have a map or something?"

At his request, T pulled out one of the holographic projectors he hid under his coat and dropped it on the floor. Once it hit the ground, it displayed a three-dimensional scale diagram of the castle. With it, SK was able to point out where the terrorists most often gathered, where they kept their weapons and ammunition, the areas of land around the castle with hidden splinter mines and where the anti-aircraft turrets were located.

When the projector deactivated, T spoke as he bent down to pick it up. "First order of duty is to take out the shield generator."

"I can handle that. I just need to get behind the shield." SK spoke up as his right hand found its way to the hilt of his scimitar. "What else?"

"We'll first need to reconvene at the Bullhead and come up with a more thorough plan. Once the shield generator's down, I can have the airship run strategic bombing runs to eliminate large pockets of Fang soldiers and weapon depots. However, we need to be careful _not_ to damage the servers under the castle."

"How long do you think this'll take?" Tanner asked, sounding slightly irritated.

"Hopefully we'll be done planning within the hour."

Tanner opened up his mouth to speak again, but the roar of engines and explosions cut him off as all three turned in horror to see their Bullhead flying in low for a bombing run on the village, before continuing the barrage of missiles all the way to the stronghold.

"Incoming!" SK yelled as he dodged to one side. T followed right behind him as a shock missile landed directly into the hut they were hiding behind and blew it into a shower of splinters.

The ringing in his ears quickly died down as he watched in a mixture of rage and horror as his airship's missiles exploded harmlessly against the dome of energy around the castle, while the occupants were clear to fire heavy calibre rounds at the Bullhead as it banked away.

T was the first to get back on his feet as he looked for Tanner while SK collected himself. Finding the swordsman unharmed – though equally dazed, he offered him a hand up as he spoke.

"Or we could just come up with the plan along the way!"


	16. Chapter 11

Rising Tide

 **Same time…**

It wasn't easy to create a Human-sized hole in an energy field designed to withstand mortar shells using only the equivalent of a laser cutter. Granted, the laser cutter was hot enough to cut through metre-thick granite, it still didn't make up for the fact that he was getting shot at by explosive rounds and shells the size of his fist.

 _Well, at least I have help…_

The cracks in the shield were becoming longer and longer as SK emptied the vial of Fire Dust loaded into his laser rifle – one would think that running into the centre of the spider-web of cracks would cause them to shatter apart. However, they would be sorely disappointed when all they got from it was a painful shock all over their body.

Another salvo of missiles went up into the air as the same Bullhead flew low for another dive. This time, however, the airship wasn't so lucky and one of the missiles clipped the end of one of the wings.

"We need to hurry!" T shouted as he loaded another Fire Dust vial into his metal arm, which functioned as a plasma torch for the moment.

"W-what do you think I'm doing?" SK barked back rhetorically as they focussed their fire on one point on the shielding. _Just a few…more…seconds…_ it was then that a ballistic shell landed a metre away from him that he couldn't take it anymore. "Fuck this! Tanner, it's now or never!"

On cue, Tanner raised both of his pistols and fired four rounds of explosive Dust at the cracked energy shield. After the third blast, SK wasn't sure if it would work, but when the forth Dust crystal made contact, shards of energy fell away like glass, and the rogue quickly took the opportunity to jump through the opening.

T and Tanner followed just as the shield reformed behind them. SK counted his luck at rolling into his leap and narrowly avoiding another shell as he mapped out his path to the fortress in his mind. Now all they had to do was sprint across the ten-metre long yard to the front entrance of the castle, fight their ways through dozens of heavily-armed guards and find the shield generator.

Simple…

Bits of gravel, dirt and grass were being torn from the ground around them as a mixture of mortar fire and heavy shells rained around him from above. Despite his current predicament, SK tried as hard as he could to look at the bright side of the situation. _Well, at least I'm not alone…or running through a mine field._

Running along the path up to the main iron gate, the Bullhead flew in for another run on the shield, carelessly spraying bullets and Dust rounds all over the village and the field of energy that protected the castle.

"When is that idiot going to realise that's not working?" Tanner yelled over the barrage of rounds being shot at them. SK was about to make a snide remark at how the marauder had less sense in his head than a headless chicken, but he was cut off as the swordsman shoved him to the side while stepping in front of him.

In less than a second, Tanner had his pistol drawn and fired off an Ice Dust round into the ground, creating a barricade of ice that almost instantly shattered when a shell hit it. The momentary cover was gone in an instant.

"We're going to get creamed out here!" SK shouted as they continued their charge towards the main entrance – which was locked and heavily fortified. "What's the plan for getting past the first wall?" he asked just as he did a front-flip over a missile aimed at him.

"Still calculating variables." T remarked in reply as he took a harpoon that was strapped to his back and loaded it into the barrel of his mechanical arm.

"We're definitely not going to get very far through the front gate." Tanner remarked as he pointed out the rows of White Fang Soldiers and Androids that had gathered behind the iron bars of the gate.

"Got it." T suddenly exclaimed as he ran off at a tangent. There was a moment when SK hesitated to follow and stumbled to a stop in the middle of the battlefield. Tanner noticed almost immediately and stared at him with a wide-eyed panic.

"What are you doing? You want to get blown to bits?"

"Won't be much different if we run through that minefield!" SK shouted in reply as he pointed in the direction T was running.

A moment more of hesitation was all the rogue got before the resounding barrage of bullets and charged Dust gave him the motivation to follow the hacker on instinct alone. He could hear his heartbeat in his ear as he kept his eyes open for any incoming fire or any mines he might have tripped, which is why he almost fell to the ground when he heard a voice in his ear.

"Vermillion, the mines are powered by Dust. Set them off before we get into their blast radius." He heard T's commanding voice through the earpiece in his right ear.

"How did you get this frequency?" SK asked while tapping on the communication device. The black-haired teen knew that this was hardly the time for such a question, but he felt that he needed to know.

"Lucky guess." The hacker replied just as a shell landed three feet from the rogue, triggering one of the splinter mines to fire bits of shrapnel off in every direction. In less than a second, his training kicked in and Yakmak was in his hands to deflect every piece of jagged metal that flew towards him.

It was only after he lowered his scimitar did he notice that the gunmen and guards on the walls of the fortress weren't firing with as much ferocity as they did before – likely trying not to trigger the mines around them.

It was also after SK lowered his blade did he notice the small shard of shrapnel sticking out of his right upper-arm.

While he was standing still to see where the forces along the walls had gathered, Tanner ran ahead of him and waved his hand in a wide arc. His hand glowed a vibrant-orange all the way up to his wrist as the hidden landmines ahead began detonating, clearing the path that T was taking to the wall.

Yanking out the piece of serrated metal, the rogue followed the path littered with craters.

Out of the effective blast-radius of the mines, all the bits of shrapnel did was irritate SK as they harmlessly bounced off him and Tanner, which the White Fang militia-men on the wall seemed to pick up on.

Without much warning, the fire and shots that rained down on them increased in intensity, getting to the point where they didn't seem to care if they set off every mine in the ground around the castle.

 _They must be_ desperate _to get rid of us…_

Weaving in between salvos of missiles and rounds, the trio eventually reached the base of the outer-wall that surrounded the fortress. Right underneath the heavy batteries and artillery and under their range, they were at least safe from the heaviest firearms the White Fang possessed. It still didn't keep them safe from the White Fang gunmen, but even at the range they were at, the Faunus grunts still had the accuracy of a drunken demo-man.

"Great, we're here. Now what?" SK directed the question at T, who was busily firing a harpoon at the top of the wall. The projectile exploded in a burst of white light that blinded the Faunuses' sensitive eyes. Loading in a second harpoon with a larger head, he turned his attention to the rogue.

"Get climbing." He simply stated as he fired the next harpoon. Unlike the other one, the second bolt had a cable attached to it, trailing up from T's arm as it impaled the hard concrete of the wall.

SK quickly recognized what the hacker meant and was struck with half-amazement and half-fear at the man's quick thinking. Seeing no other way around this, he muttered a quick curse phrase under his breath and began running up the length of the wall, using the rope as a support before finding a handhold.

Climbing over the top, he was met with more Faunus opposition than ever before.

 _This should be interesting…_

* * *

Untying the scarf around his neck, Tanner grabbed onto the metal cable and lowered himself into a crouch in preparation to scale the three-storey wall. He took a moment to look for a good target on the top of the wall while a plan formed in his mind – which was slowly getting harder and harder as SK cut down the White Fang guards.

"You coming?" he asked T without turning his gaze away from the top of the wall, finally spotting a distracted Faunus.

"I'll bring up the rear." Was the only response he got before he sprinted up the side of the wall in a burst of speed. The burst only carried him three-quarters up the wall though, just as he had planned for.

As he felt himself slow to a stop along the vertical surface, he finished undoing her scarf and flung it towards the distracted Faunus on top of the wall. In less than a second, the scarf twirled around the Faunus' neck and tightened like a noose.

Using the momentum he carried during his vertical sprint, he pulled on the scarf with all his might, pulling himself up the rest of the way, while subsequently pulling the terrorist off the wall.

With a scream of fear and pain, the Faunus fell to his doom as Tanner landed on the walkway along the wall, quickly following up his landing by swinging his scarf around him like a whip at the nearby guards. When doing so, he channelled his Aura into the fabric and caused the scarf to catch fire and leave burn marks wherever it touched.

The swordsman treated the style of fighting more like a dance as he slowly cleared a path towards the rogue, who looked like he was having a difficult time holding his own against the increasing number of White Fang soldiers. Tanner recognized why; it was because several of the Faunuses among their ranks were skilled mercenaries and veterans of war, if their choice of weapons and armour were any indication.

Unlike the 'greener' members of the White Fang, the ones they fought wore armour with more decorations and blood-red paint that gave them the impression of certain types of Grimm or demons from various legends. Along with that, their choice of bolt-action weaponry could only mean that they felt more familiar with such technology in comparison to the semi-automatic and fully-automatic weaponry that had been developed in more recent decades. It couldn't have just been a coincidence. _This seems like an awful lot of added security over a Blacklist._

Having actually dealt with the White Fang in the past meant that he needed to know this, in the event that something like this occurred.

Exhausted of Aura for the moment, Tanner finally made it to the rogue and quickly retied his scarf around his neck as he watched T clamber over the edge of the wall.

"So what's the next part of the plan?" he asked as he drew Beofield out of its sheath.

"There are four anti-aircraft turrets in place around the base." T recapped as he un-holstered his pistol and began taking pot-shots at some of the White Fang that were running down the far side of the wall. "We need to each take one of them out and converge on the last; this mission will fail if we lose Overwatch."

"Over-what?" SK asked as he levelled a squad of White Fang soldiers with his laser rifle.

"The fucking airship!" Tanner explained in a universal language that SK – luckily – understood.

"Marking a target for each of you on your maps." T said once before leaping from the top of the wall – before Tanner could stop him – to an inner-wall where more soldiers were gathering to gun them down. "Keep on this frequency to allow for communication." He heard T mutter into the earpiece as he turned to SK to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"Wait, how did he hack my Scroll so quickly?" SK asked as he gestured for Tanner to crouch down under a rocket-propelled grenade that had been fired at them.

"He does that a lot." Tanner replied while batting a grenade back at the White Fang soldier that had lobbed it at him with the flat of his sword. The explosion knocked four Faunuses off the wall and blew several chunks of masonry along with it. "At this rate the Grimm will be all over this place in a few minutes." The brunette muttered quietly to himself.

"Well, we've each got a target on the different side of the wall. You think you can handle all the guys on your side by yourself?" SK asked in a mock-serious tone as he shanked and kicked a Faunus that got too close to him off the wall.

"Can you?" Tanner asked back, but when he got no reply, he turned around to find the rogue had disappeared. Thankfully, he didn't have to watch his back as the guards along the opposite side of the wall were all taking a great interest in something that was happening a few concrete turrets away from him.

Rolling his eyes and shoulders at the same time, he turned to face the squad of White Fang soldiers taking up a defensive position on the side of the wall he was facing, armed with several rocket launchers.

"Please, don't. You'll make this too easy." Tanner told them as he raised one hand towards them. The hand – from his wrist down – took on an orange hue as he channelled his Aura through his fingertips. In less than a second, his Aura had flooded the rocket launchers and caused them to prematurely explode, taking a large section of the wall with it.

Once the smoke from the explosion settled, the swordsman slid his sabre into its scabbard before taking off at a sprint with the intent of jumping across the hole in the wall. Upon sticking the landing, Tanner found that there were more White Fang soldiers ready and waiting for him further along the stone wall that seemed to curve around the castle within.

Firing an Ice Dust round into the ground, he took a moment to hide behind the wall it created while pulling out his Scroll and looking for the anti-aircraft turret that T had designated for him. According to the scale hologram that appeared, it was further into the fortress along the third wall that surrounded the inner-castle. Each wall was connected to the other by a structure that seemed to function as either a gathering spot, a rest area for guards or a smaller version of an armoury.

With the connecting structure in sight, Tanner loaded a few Lightning Dust cartridges into Beofield and Crossed Star before sliding around the wall of ice and onto the steel railing on the edge of the wall.

His risky manoeuvre paid off as the White Fang soldiers expected him to burst through the ice wall instead of going around it. The brunette made a leap towards the group of Faunuses while pulling the trigger on his sabre, causing the blade to spark and crackle with electricity. He swung it in a wide arc as he landed, slicing and knocking most of the guards down before firing several shots ahead of him while the Faunuses were still in their daze.

Tanner continued this pattern as he raced down the wall – the connecting structure getting closer and closer. His advance was halted when several rockets in his peripheral vision blew apart the wall in front and behind him, causing him to suddenly stop and almost fall into the inside of the castle.

Quickly turning to the source of the rockets, Tanner felt his eyes meet with one of the White Fang gunners in the seat of a rocket turret. Thinking his options over as the turret swivelled in a new salvo of rockets; the brunette decided that as tired as he was, using Dust Manipulation was the only way out of this alive.

Slinging Crossed Star back into its leather holster, he held out his left, gloveless hand and prepared to trigger the Dust inside the rocket. However, before the gunner got the chance to pull the trigger, T was on him as he raced down the wall. The gunner's brain-matter was splattered across the metal surface of the rocket turret as T unloaded two bullets from his pistol right into the man's head.

With that out of the way, Tanner considered his options with how to get to the anti-aircraft turret. While he considered attempting to jump the huge gap that had been created, static crackled in his earpiece along with SK's voice.

"Guys…-ve located the shield generator. Can't get to it…-avily guarded. I did manage to find a weapons stock and will try to create a diversion. Marking the shield generator on the map now." He said before cutting off.

Once the transmission cut off, Tanner noticed how close the adjacent walls were built to each other. The idea formed in his head as he loaded more explosive rounds into his flintlock pistol, all the while trying to keep agile on the small amount of concrete surface he had to avoid machine-gun fire.

Once the pistol was fully loaded, he fired off a single round at the ground beneath him and angled his body so that he flew towards the wall that T was running along. Noticing the amount of sword-wielding White Fang soldiers that were going after T, he fired off another round to change the angle of his descent so that he landed right on top of them.

Crushing one of the Faunuses to soften his landing, he drew his sabre out of its sheath at such a speed – in his crouch – that he was sure he broke a few leg-bones with the attack.

While he remained crouched, he heard the hacker utter one word and reacted on instinct.

"Hand!"

Sticking his free hand out behind him, he felt T grab it as the hacker rolled over his back. Tanner's body was working on reflex as he flung T towards an approaching group of androids, which resulted in T levelling all four of them with a single Dust-infused punch, sending sparks flying off in different directions.

Tanner was quick to catch up to T, who was taking a moment to catch his breath. When the brunette's footsteps became audible to T, he stood upright to acknowledge the swordsman. "Good throw."

"Thanks, I have been working out." Tanner complimented himself as he dusted off his shoulders in a show of class, trying to cover up the fact that he hadn't known what he was doing at all.

The moment quickly passed as a loud explosion shook every wall in the fortress and almost caused Tanner to fall to the ground. "Get to that turret." T reminded as another salvo of heavy calibre rounds went up into the air while the Bullhead performed another bombing run.

Without anything more than a small grumble, the swordsman took off down the wall, swinging Beofield at any guards that got too close to him. Once they reached the connecting structure that connected all three walls to one another, Tanner and T took off at diverging paths to their respective anti-aircraft turrets while having to now dodge sniper fire.

Finally coming within eye-shot of the turret – which was loading up another barrage, Tanner had to quickly consider his options while ducking low to avoid the snipers that were shooting at him. Already, one of them had caught him in the right wrist with a bullet, though the wound wasn't very deep or bleeding too profusely. With his target on top of a stone tower on the wall and the snipers somewhere he couldn't quite discern yet, he counted down from five before he pulled the trigger on his sabre, causing it to become covered in an uneven sheen of ice. With it, he drew a wide arc on the ground around him with the tip of the blade, causing a barricade of ice to form just high enough for him to popped out of his cover and hold his free hand like a pistol. Aiming at the turret, he surged his Aura forward unconsciously.

"Bang."

As the sound escaped his mouth, the side of the turret exploded outwards and blew apart a segment of the tower it was on. He barely had enough time to admire his work before he was on the move for more cover as several sniper rounds shattered his ice barricade.

Running along the sloped wall towards the structure that connected all three walls to one another as he pressed his thumb to the earpiece in his right ear. "Anti-aircraft turret offline."

"Having…a little trouble on my end, but I'm really close." SK replied in turn with the sound of clashing steel and explosions of concrete in the background.

Instead of a reply, T's response came in the form of a large explosion off to one side of the fortress, which Tanner could only guess as to mean that he had just blown his up. Running for cover into one of the connecting structures, the brunette didn't see one of the White Fang bruisers hiding just to the right of the entrance way, who stuck his hand out to throw Tanner's momentum off and cause him to fall to the ground.

His vision went bleary for a quick moment before the stars disappeared to reveal a squad of White Fang soldiers with their weapons all pointed at him.

"Advance on the shield generator. We need to get Overwatch into the fight – and perform repairs before that buffoon crashes my airship." T barked into the communications link before cutting off.

 _Yeah, sure. I'll get right on it._ Tanner thought sarcastically as he looked for his weapons, which lay several metres away from him – out of his reach.

Sighing to himself, he raised his hands in mock-surrender before surging his Aura outwards.

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

Spamming the trigger on the flight controls, Mason was having the time of his life as he emptied the mini-guns of the airship on the village and the shielded castle, doing little damage except to the village.

Still, he was thoroughly enjoying himself as he hollered at the top of his lungs while dipping down for another bombing run.

One of the missile pods on the wings had already run empty, and the other one was soon to follow as the redhead fired every weapon he could at the shielded facility, causing the shield to flicker for a moment before seeming to harden yet again. However, Mason knew that the attacks were doing a serious number on the shield's integrity.

Mason could have also sworn that there were a couple of bombs strapped to the underside of the airship, though he couldn't find a switch for it and the on-board AI was no help since Mason muted it manually.

Which is why he almost jumped out of the pilot seat when he heard a gravelly voice echo through the interior of the airship.

"What do you think you're doing?" the voice asked in a calm and neutral tone.

"How the fuck-where did you come from?" Mason shouted back, not really knowing what he was doing as the airship rocked slightly from the explosions around it.

"You're lucky I've reached the shield generator." The voice spoke as the flickering energy shield around the castle began to dissipate. "Overwatch, retake control."

Mason was startled yet again as a familiar female voice rang out. "Voice command identified. Command confirmed. Resuming auto-pilot." After that, Mason felt the flight-controls harden like rocks. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even get the joystick to budge.

"Take this flight path and deploy Dust charges on my marks." T's voice rang out again before cutting off.

"Command confirmed. Flight path uploaded."

"Oh, and get out of my ship." T's words were the last thing Mason heard before he felt the rush of wind at his face at being suddenly ejected from the airship. Still strapped into the pilot's seat, he watched the Bullhead turn away suddenly as he plummeted to the ground.

"Welp, looks like I picked a good day to bring extra ammo with me." The berserker shouted to himself over the rushing wind. He hadn't really had time to react to being shot out of an airship or really think about the situation because…well…

It had never happened to him before.

In a way, it was actually quite exciting to him; this was a new, unfamiliar situation that he was experiencing. And very soon, he'd crash to the ground and have to fight a few dozen Faunuses... _How exciting!_

The ground came to him sooner than he thought it would. Fortunately, the redhead was able to unfasten his seat-belt before the chair he was strapped in hit the ground, jumping off it at the last second and landing on a nice, soft Faunus.

The sound of bones cracking and bloody gurgles as Mason stomped on the man's neck was music to his ears as he danced around in a circle, swinging his weapons at anyone who got too close to him. "Die, die, die!" he chanted as he fired off his weapons while swinging them for added range or force.

Once the fighting around him died down, he was able to take in the fact that he had landed on the courtyard right in front of the castle he had been storming for the past few minutes. Looking out in the direction of the village, Mason couldn't help but feel that the smoke and embers that rose out in the distance made the sunset even more beautiful; giving it a smoky quality that reminded him of the many villages he had set fire to just for the fun of it.

Smiling to himself, he transformed Fuil into its pistol form and aimed it just out of his peripheral vision, where he fired off two rounds at a charging White Fang soldier – stopping the Faunus almost instantly.

"Now this is where the party's at." He said as he turned around to face the short walk to the double doors that led into the castle. From behind the door, Mason could hear the sounds of objects being shifted and pushed up against the doors in an attempt to bar them. The berserker slowly shook his head at the sad attempt at keeping him out as he threw a few pouches filled with explosive Fire Dust at the door and began taking a few steps backwards.

Quickly making sure that Bas was fully loaded, he aimed it at one of the pouches and an explosion erupted…from the distant wall. There was a moment when Mason had to pause to be sure that he hadn't imagined the sound of the explosion before he turned around and recognized it.

Giving a quick huff in acknowledgement, he turned back to aiming at the pouches full of explosives and pulled the trigger.

The blast sent splinters and shards of molten metal off in different directions as the berserker merrily skipped into the main hall of the castle. "Knock knock!" Right after setting one foot into the structure, Mason found himself bombarded with bullets and intense firepower from the above level.

With only half of his Aura left to shield him, the redhead quickly looked for anything that he could hide behind for cover. Spotting a steel crate covered in scorch marks off to one side, he quickly dove behind it while twisting in mid-air…while trying to quick-scope the White Fang guards along the overhead walkways.

After landing ungraciously on his back, Mason scrambled to reload his weapons – not bothering to get up – as multiple explosions rocked the castle. Slapping the different ammo types into his weapons, he burst out of cover and quickly took aim at the remaining guards overhead. "Oh! Oh! Where you at?" Mason shouted as several Faunus tried to rush him. In one swift hand movement, the berserker's shotgun was transformed back into its axe form and buried deep within the skull of one of the charging swordsmen with a single overhead swing. The corpse that was stuck to the blade of his axe was then blasted back into another swordsman with a round from his heavy pistol, knocking the living Faunus down to the ground.

It seemed that the only strategy the scrubs before him knew was to take him on one at a time in a single file line, as Mason cleaved through Faunus after Faunus with a mixture of both of his weapons while slowly making his way up a flight of stairs. The berserker's goal at the moment was to fight his way to the top of the building to once again prove that he was the true MLG in this town, and the White Fang seemed set on getting in his way as the prolonged fighting only made him stronger and stronger.

Taking one of the two flights of stairs opposite the main entrance to the castle, Mason began to find the White Fang's opposition almost boring. At the rate they were dying and their repetitive tactics, the redhead began to get worried that he might run out of finishing moves before he got to the top of the castle.

Never stopping once, Mason continued right down one of the dull, grey, concrete hallways until he found a spiral staircase that took him further up – once he made sure that the concrete walls and floor were covered in a sufficiently excessive amount of blood. By this point, any remaining White Fang members were running from him as fast as they could, with some of them making the unfortunate choice to go up the spiral staircase he had chosen to go up.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Mason found himself exactly where he wanted to go; the top of the castle. The four Faunuses that ended up on the roof were backed up into a corner on the edge of the rectangular roof, trying their hardest not to quake in fear as they made their last stand.

Spreading both of his arms apart and dropping his weapons to his side, Mason put on his most smug expression as he spoke. "Come at me, bro."

 _Honestly, this is sooo boring. I need a challenge._ Mason thought to himself as he waited a few seconds for the terrified noobs in front of him to respond to his challenge. Without warning, one of the Faunuses wielding a halberd let out a war cry as he charged forward.

 _Sloppy noobs!_ The redhead thought as he simply had to move out of the way of his attacker's charge before grabbing him by the neck and lifting him off his feet. At this point, his blood-red Aura was flaring around him and his eyes were glowing like a predator of the night.

It was as simple as flicking his wrist before the Faunus' neck snapped in two and his body slumped to the floor. When the man's grip around his halberd loosened, the redhead quickly traded his grip from the corpse's neck to the shaft of the weapon. In less than a second after he grabbed the halberd, Mason sent it soaring through the air towards one of the other Faunuses.

The blade pierced right through the fox-eared man's chest as the force behind the throw sent him off the edge of the wall. Surprisingly enough to Mason, one of his companion's was stupid enough to grab onto the Faunus' falling corpse, taking him for a fall with the corpse.

Grinning at the success of the unplanned double-kill, Mason eyed the remaining opponent – no, prey – before taking a few steps closer.

The clatter of steel echoed across the rooftop as the Faunus before him dropped his only weapon – a measly dagger – to the ground before dropping to his knees with tears streaming down his face.

"P-please. N-no more, I-I surrend-der." The soldier pleaded as he lowered his head to the ground.

Letting out a huff in annoyance, Mason picked the Faunus up by his vest. "Surrender? What makes you think I'll accept your surrender?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"I-I'll do anything you want – anything you ask!" The sobbing Faunus choked out.

He took a moment's pause as he contemplated the offer presented before him. _Anything I want…_ "Say that this is my house now." Mason hissed into the man's ear.

"T-this is y-your house now." The words came out as a squeak as the redhead tightened his grip around the Faunus' throat.

"You're damn right it is!" Mason yelled at the man before hurling him off the edge of the roof. "No mercy!" his words could be heard over the sound of the screams of the Faunus as he fell to his death.

"I own _all_ this shit!" the redhead shouted at the top of his lungs while spreading his arms to his side. On top of the castle, before the multiple plumes of smoke that rose from different parts of the castle and its surrounding walls as hordes of Grimm poured into the once-proud fortress, Mason truly felt content for a few seconds as the sun finally set behind the horizon and a few more explosions went off in different locations…before the contentment was filled with a desire to do this again, and again, and again.

Licking his lips, Mason turned around and headed back into the castle, more work to be done.

* * *

 **Five minutes later…**

Even ten metres below ground, T could still hear the commotions of the battles that were taking place above ground. While the White Fang that occupied the castle had been all but decimated, their fight and the pained cries of the wounded had drawn the creatures of Grimm from the darkness of twilight to the scene.

There was little doubt in T's mind that – left to themselves – the rest of the White Fang stragglers would quickly die out. He didn't worry too much about his team, as he had designated a rendezvous point for them to be picked up by Overwatch, who would then return for him once he was done.

Upon entering the underground server rooms, the hacker was set upon by the smell of cooling fluids, the sound of CPUs working away, and a single Faunus armed only with a pistol.

 _He must be part of the newer batch._ T thought as the Faunus attacked him within arms-reach instead of staying out of his reach.

Grabbing the end of the gun, T was quick to pull the Faunus towards him and crack his skull by slamming his head into the concrete wall. When the unconscious body of the gunman dropped to the floor, T flinched slightly as he felt a tight pain in his lower torso as the exertion once again stretched the healed wound that the White Fang Lieutenant gave him a week ago.

Despite being completely healed, the flesh was still tender and sensitive, so every time he exerted himself, he could feel the stretch of the muscles, reminding him of how he got it.

Shaking the memory off, he procured his Scroll and walked up to the largest server unit he could find.

The underground room was something of a basement; with no windows or other light sources aside from the ones that the transparent servers gave off, painting the rectangular room in a deep-blue hue.

It was just a matter of accessing one of the terminals and plugging his Scroll in. On the way down, T had already planned the sequence of events that would occur, and had changed the settings on his Scroll accordingly.

Firstly, a search program quickly found the list of Pawns on the servers. Making a copy of them on his Scroll for evidence, he wiped it from the servers. Next, the Scroll ran a program that sent out a pre-made message to everyone on the list; telling them about Gambit Protocol and all the information about the list of Pawns that they would need.

It didn't matter to T what they did with this information, only that it increased the chances that they would turn against Cinder or be executed pre-emptively _before_ their task was complete, setting Cinder at a disadvantage.

Thirdly, T began to probe the closed network to check if the network only existed within these servers, or if there was another base that shared the network. Unfortunately for Cinder, T found that the network stretched out to three different locations across Mistral, and additionally to Vale and Atlas.

He set about hiding digital worms and malware into the stream of information that flowed in the network, causing the tracking software to get across Remnant in a matter of seconds. Now it was time to move to the second phase of operations: eradicating Black Queen.

Already, the virus was being detected at several of Cinder's other outposts, making them T's next destination. Transferring all the relevant data over to his Scroll, he unplugged it from the server, causing it to spit sparks as its processor ran into overdrive. The overloading server seemed to cause a chain reaction, as several of the other servers around him began to do the same as the hacker tightened his cap down and slowly walked out of the server room.

All lights from within that basement went out once T reached surface-level again. What happened next may have not been thoroughly thought out, but with the relevant data, T now knew where he would take his war with Cinder; an Underworld War – invisible to the public.

Passing by the rows of corpses that lay scattered throughout the castle, T couldn't help but wonder whether all the horrors and atrocities he was about to commit was truly worth it.

However, as he stuck his hand into the pocket of his overcoat and felt the familiar folds of the piece of paper he had spent hours staring at, he knew deep in his mind that whatever happened – whoever had to die along the way, they would all be worth it in the end.

Because in the end, nothing mattered more than family.

"Overwatch, transmitting my coordinates now. Let's go home."

 **A/N: This chapter marks the end of a milestone, and the beginning of another. This may be the first of many operations that Team MSTT will undertake** _ **together,**_ **but how long do you think this alliance will last? I honestly don't think it'll last for very long, but it just shows you how much you should trust the author.**

 **There will be one more chapter after this one, and then I'm going to take a break from writing about MSTT to go back to the dream team that starter it all. This isn't just a whim I get now and then, what happens next in DAWN and later on in MSTT are important to each other's story. There will be major plot points that are ONLY flushed out in DAWN that I may gloss over in MSTT, and subsequently, some things that happen in MSTT will correlate to some of the DAWN events. Though DAWN affects MSTT more, both are still important to the storytelling as a whole, so check out DAWN if you haven't already. Apologies if the first few chapters are a bit rusty – I'm working on some replacement chapters, but the writing style and chapter length get better in later chapters.**

 **Until then, I guess.**


	17. Chapter 12

Enemies Unknown

 **A/N: Here it is, friends; the end to the first unofficial 'arc' for MSTT. The journey has only begun, and it will continue in DAWN, so – even if you're not TOO interested – please check the prologues out. If they don't fit your fancy, then you don't have to read them ALL to understand some of the small things that happen in MSTT, but it would be nice of you.**

 **Also, just as a public note, in case you haven't heard of when RWBY Volume 4 is coming out, it's October the 22** **nd** **, and man am I EXCITED! Write that date down my friends, because we're going to have to stock up on tissue paper and soft drinks for the long, cold ride ahead…at least I hope it's not cold…**

 **Disclaimer: Neither the Editorial or I own any part of RWBY or RT, and all rights and reserves go to Monty Oum and the other respective owners.**

 **Many Weeks Ago…**

Sparks of electricity spat out from broken terminals and exposed, damaged power lines. Many fell onto the repairmen that worked tirelessly to restore the pieces of technology to their former glory, but some passed through the ethereal form of General James Ironwood.

The man was actually still back in his headquarters in Atlas, but chose to make an appearance to personally oversee the process of repairing the Relay station that had been attacked by an unknown assailant. From the looks of things, the attacker had to be either mad, or had some bigger plan that would follow up this attack.

At least from what he could see and what his engineers could tell him, almost every terminal and processing unit in the facility had been either destroyed or fried, yet somehow the relay system still functioned at almost one-hundred percent.

The best explanation they were able to provide him with – thus far – was that even though the exterior of the terminals had been damaged and rendered beyond repair, the internal hardware was left unscathed.

The reason behind this was still unknown to the General, but he was sure that everything would be made clear in time; once the person responsible for this attack was caught and made to pay for his crimes.

"Chief engineer," Ironwood called out without looking directly at any of the men around his form. "Is there anything else you wish to report?"

One of the engineers wearing a yellow and white fireproof jacket ran in front of the hologram of his superior and stood at attention, saluting quickly before speaking. "Sir, only that we're still unable to reprogram the defence systems around the facility. Whatever this guy did to the turrets, it'll take the team a while to undo."

"Take all the time you need. Let's just be glad the systems are _only_ targeting the Grimm at the moment." Ironwood replied as he returned the salute.

"The men still feel uneasy around them; some report that when there are no Grimm around, the turrets turn in their direction – just never fire." The chief engineer reported with a hint of concern for his men in his voice.

"Then I suggest we get them fixed before someone gets hurt." Ironwood said in a stern voice, letting the man before him know that it was a direct order. "Ironwood out." He signed off as the bridge of the relay station around him dissipated into various pixels and lights.

Rubbing his eyes under the immersion glasses he wore, the general looked back up to find that he was still in his holographic briefing room surrounded by a ring of panels made of light. With it, moving from the bridge of the relay tower to its infirmary was as simple as pressing a button – and he didn't even have to be there.

Before the general appeared in the infirmary, a paramedic was treating one of the survivors that had been found, badly wounded. Upon appearing out of thin air, the nurse quickly stood at attention as soon as she recognized that the man was there. The wounded survivor – with his arm in a sling, also tried to look presentable in front of the general, but grimaced when he stood at full height.

"General," the nurse greeted before dropping her salute. "-the corporal is awake and eager to give his report on the attacker."

"At ease, Gertrude." He addressed the nurse by name, as he had met with her several times in the past. The same went for the corporal. "Beckett, how are you feeling?"

"Worse than usual, sir. But nothing I can't walk off." The man said with a gesture to his injured hand as he flinched again in pain.

"You said you saw who this intruder was?" the general questioned.

The corporal had to sit down and pause for a moment, considering his next choice of words. "I wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't smacked me over the head and killed the rest of the squad." He droned for a moment. "He was like an army of one."

"Can you tell me anything definitive about this man?"

"He only had a silenced pistol, and a metal right arm. I couldn't tell too well, but it looked like there was a taser and another gun in that arm." The corporal shook his head. "No markings on it to tell where it came from, but it kinda looked Atlesian."

This news was unsettling to the greying general, but at least it narrowed down their search parameters. "Can you tell me anything else that stood out about this figure?"

"He covered himself up in very common clothing; you'd think that he was some kind of refugee or wanderer." Beckett said while shaking his head. "But um, before I went unconscious, I'm sure that I saw a symbol on his coat. It flickered just for a moment, but-" the corporal spoke as he reached for a piece of paper. "-it looked something like this."

Turning the paper over, Ironwood took a few moments to stare at the unfamiliar symbol of what looked like an eye with a crosshair over it.

"Thank you, corporal. That will be all – get some rest." The general said neutrally before cutting off the transmission.

Once the world around him flickered back to his briefing room, the Atlesian general took off the glasses and let out a long sigh, before an angry scowl replaced it. His hands clenched tightly around the immersion glasses to the point that a voice in the back of the general's mind had to warn him not to break them.

Whoever this attacker was, wherever he came from, whatever his intentions were, it didn't excuse the fact that this was an attack on Atlas – as far as the general was considered. This fact only made Ironwood more determined to find this man, if only make a statement that no one messes with Atlas and gets away with it. All they had to do now was find the man responsible and bring him to justice.

Taking out and opening the Scroll in his pocket, Ironwood made a quick call to the head of Atlas Intelligence. "I would like you to pull up any material or information you can in relation to this symbol." He spoke to the man as he sent a picture of the drawing Corporal Beckett had shown him.

The officer sucked in his lips as he seemed to be examining the symbol, but it wasn't long before he replied. "Doesn't look familiar to anything I've seen, but that's just me. I'll run a search filter for everything we have on the network. It may take a few hours, but I'll alert you immediately if I find anything, sir."

"Make it so, I'll have someone else look into this and send you anything that might be related to the symbol." For a moment, general Ironwood had to pause out of worry that he may have told his intelligence agent more than he needed to know – as ironic as that was, before closing the line.

As much as he wanted to launch a manhunt for this mysterious attacker or put the whole Kingdom on high alert, a feeling in his gut told the James that he needed to take care of this one quietly. It made sense to him if the general thought about it long enough; why commit to martial law when this attack seemed a little out of the way. However, James felt like he needed to send someone who could complete the task quietly and cleanly. Someone who had undertaken delicate special-operations in the past and succeeded over all of his peers.

Flicking through his list of contacts, he slowed to a stop over the name of his contact and left his finger to hover over the man's number before taking a deep breath and pressing it. Placing the Scroll to his ear, it rang three times before his recipient answered their Scroll.

"Yes, sir?" answered a soft, meek voice.

"Agent Stop, I have an assignment I want you to look into."

0o

 **Four hours after Chapter 11…**

No words could do justice to describe the fury Cinder was feeling as she received another report that one of her designated 'Pawns' had turned on the White Fang members she had been working with before disappearing without a trace.

 _I should have known better than to trust him with such delicate matters!_ She thought to herself angrily as her eyes burned with a yellow flame.

"This is absolutely unacceptable!" Cinder nearly screamed as she paced back and forth. "Because of _him_ ,we've been set back by weeks!"

"Sympathisers in the village say that it wasn't just him that attacked the fortress." Adam explained, being very careful with his choice of words. "We can't be too sure from the descriptions, but it seems like that Vermillion kid is now helping your boy, as well as two others we're not too sure about."

The ash-haired woman tried to get her emotions under control – lest they feed the uncontrollable fire burning within her – before speaking again. "And there were no survivors from the fortress?" she asked, on the last, thin lengths of her emotional constraints.

Adam paused a moment before responding. "No."

"Good. Then they got what they deserved." Cinder choked out bitterly.

"Do not forget that these are my men! Without them, you wouldn't have gotten where you are now!" Adam suddenly snapped at her.

"Without them, _you_ wouldn't be where you are now!" Cinder snapped back, more ferociously as she quickly closed the distance between the two of them. "Do not make me take them away from both of us." She threatened through gritted teeth.

For a long while, Adam didn't back down from the challenge, gritting his teeth in response. Eventually, he withdrew as if worried that the fire in Cinder's eyes would burn him.

A justified fear.

"So what do we do about him?" he asked her instead, changing the pace of the conversation.

"You and your men had your chance. I will take care of T and his friends personally. You on the other hand can track down and dispose of the rest of the Pawns. We still can't risk word getting out about our little operations." Cinder replied with a bit of bite in her tone.

"My men are very eager to exact their revenge on the cyborg. The lieutenant that survived-"

"-can take it out on the Pawns." Cinder finished for him. "T is mine."

Cinder was going to take her leave when Adam grabbed her arm. "You think you can best him and his allies alone when a hundred of my men fell to them?"

Yanking her arm free the ash-haired woman continued to speak while walking towards the exit of the room they were in. "That's why I won't be going alone."

Exiting the small storage room, Cinder marched over to where Emerald, Mercury and Neo were lazing about. Well, Emerald and Mercury were lazing about – Neo for some reason was running back and forth about the table they sat at.

"Get your things ready – we're going after T." Cinder stated bluntly.

Emerald was the first to really react to what she said, swinging her legs off the table. "Do we know what he did to the servers?"

"No, but T's replacement is running a sweep of the servers to check if he did any real damage, or if he just wanted to have a look at what we've been doing." Cinder explained almost irritably.

"Do we know where he is?" she asked further.

"No, but he's sloppy; his trail shouldn't be too hard to pick up on."

"Do we know what he's planning?"

It was at this point that Cinder turned around to face Emerald with a glare. "I didn't save your life so you could waste my time with question!" the green-haired girl quickly shrunk away at the tone of her voice. "If I learn something new and I want you to know what it is, you'll know it. Now," she said, the tone of her voice getting softer. "-any other stupid questions?"

"Yeah, what's Neo doing?" Mercury finally asked. While she wasn't looking, Neo had somehow spread open a foldable chessboard on the table and was now setting up the figures on either side.

"We don't have time for games, Neo." Cinder snarled at the girl, but she only held up a hand to indicate that she needed a moment. With the look of concentration and focus that she wore, Cinder had a feeling that Neo was trying to explain something important and decided to roll with it for now.

In one hand, Cinder also noticed that Neo was holding a red felt-tip pen and had a small bottle of black shoe polish – likely Roman's – with a polishing cloth on the table next to the chessboard.

Once she was done setting up the board, the heterochromatic girl picked up the black king piece and used the felt-tip pen to draw a letter 'T' on it.

"Ok, that's T, so what?" Mercury asked as she placed the king piece back in its place. Taking a step back, she put one of her hands under her chin as if she were admiring the chessboard before suddenly swiping her hand across the board, knocking every black piece off except for the king.

Cinder was trying to understand the symbolism behind it, but her patience was wearing thin. "Get to the point."

Picking up one of the white pawn pieces, she picked up the bottle of shoe polish in the other hand and popped the cap open with her mouth before setting it back down and dipping the cloth in it. Cinder watched with a scrutinizing glare as Neo polished the pawn piece and set it down on the black king's side of the table. She repeated this for each of the pawn pieces, and by the time she started off on the fifth one, Cinder's eyes widened slightly in realisation.

"He's building his forces to fight." She muttered under her breath. "Out of my Pawns."

"But…T hates working with people. Are you sure about this?" Emerald directed the question at Neo, who scowled in response. "Ok, fine. I guess this puts us at an advantage, right? We can just pull up the profiles that T made of the surviving Pawns and look for their weaknesses."

"It's not as simple as that. T deleted all the copies of the list from our everything." Mercury said as he swung his feet off the table and stood up to stretch. "We'll need to come up with something else if Neo's right."

"Right now, what we _need_ is for you three to get ready to begin searching for T. If he's out to undo what he did to help us, then we need to-" Cinder's facial features twitched irritably when the screeching sound of something heavy being dragged across the floor reached her ears.

Her head snapped in the direction of the source of the noise to find two White Fang guards shifting a heavy metal crate and table in the way of the sliding doors of the warehouse, while Roman approached them at a brisk pace.

"We've got a problem." He spoke casually as he extinguished the lit end of his cigar on the table they stood at.

Letting out a groan of frustration, Cinder addressed him. "What is it now?"

"One of your Pawns showed up demanding that he speak to you. Apparently he didn't take to finding out about Gambit very well. When I told him that you were unavailable and…some other things, he started trashing the men and is on his way here, now." The orange-haired man said as a loud thud echoed from beyond the door of the warehouse.

"Who is it this time?" Cinder asked, and Roman was about to respond, but was quickly cut off when the sliding door was blasted off its railings along with the heavy objects in front of it like they were made of paper.

Out of the fading light of dusk, black tendrils stretched into the warehouse and crept along the walls towards the five people inside. Emerald, Mercury and Neo were now on their feet and had their weapons ready as a figure stepped through the opening.

However, the sight of the figure made Cinder's face split into a wide grin. _I was wondering when he would show up._

Stepping into the warehouse stood a tall, lightly tanned man with black hair, wearing a white tank-top with matching white trousers and a black jacket over it. Dark blue sneakers made a hard, metallic sound against the concrete floor of the warehouse as the figure strode into the building with his longsword in his hand.

"Hello, Cinder. I think we need to talk."


	18. Chapter 13

The Wrong Man for The Right Job

 **A/N: It's good to be back into this story. I'm not sure how long this arc will run on for, but I guarantee that it'll continue for longer than six chapter. Also, just so you guys know, that contest I mentioned earlier about guessing who each of the respective members of Team MSTT are based off is still up – I guess you guys aren't very enthusiastic about collecting that reward. Anyway, best of luck guessing!**

 **Same Time…**

"You're full of shit, Cinder!" Raiden shouted at the top of his lungs as the trails of darkness receded into the long shadow he cast behind him.

Smiling broadly, Cinder merely relaxed at the sight of the man as she responded. "Raiden Alexander, I was wondering when you were going to get back to me with-"

"Hey! I'm not done yet!" the black-haired teen interrupted as he transformed his sword into its shotgun mode, the barrel of the gun becoming more prominent while the blade retracted. "You don't get to fucking ask me how I'm doing!" Lowering the weapon somewhat, Raiden continued. "Now I run off to do your dirty work, only to find out like…" he paused to look at the wristwatch on his arm. "…Three hours ago, that you were going to kill me! Now, the way I see it, I've got a choice here, and you've got a choice to make. Say I were to blab about your little operations here to the Mistrali Government, and let's say that you'd have to pay me…I don't know, triple the original price for me to shut up."

"Really?" Cinder breathed out, already annoyed at how this was playing out. "And what are the other options?"

"Well, funny that you ask." Raiden said with a chuckle. "See, I still feel pretty crossed about the metaphorical dagger you've put to my back, and all those guys out there didn't put up any challenge at all." He said as he thumbed the open doorway behind him. "Not to mention, I like myself a good fight to the death as much as the last guy, so I'm willing to compromise here. You get one of your lackeys to fight me and if you win, well, I guess that means I have to leave the rest of you alone – for good. If _I_ win, I'll still leave you guys alone, so either way, I get out of your hair!"

 _I expected as much from him…_ Cinder thought before groaning, feeling her blood pressure rise. "I really don't have time for this, Alexander." Pinching the bridge of her nose, she waved a hand. "Roman?"

Eyes wide, Raiden quickly scanned the room in front of him in search of the criminal, and realised too late where he was when he had Melodic Cudgel hooked over his neck.

"Nice try, kid." Torchwick grunted into his ear as he pulled harder on his cane, squeezing the air out of Raiden's throat. "Maybe next time, you shouldn't try to force a deal while everyone in the room has a gun in their-" Roman's gloating quickly turned into a surprised yelp as he was pulled to the floor by his own shadow. The black form on the ground reached up in the form of two claws and pulled Torchwick to the ground.

"Nice try, old man." The ebony-haired teen said as he bent down to pick up his shotgun-longsword. "Now, as I was saying, you have a choice to make, Fall. You can either-" his words choked in his throat as the ginger-haired crimelord fired a Dust round at the ground under him and broke away from the shadowy hand, sending him flying and slamming right into Raiden.

Both men skid across the concrete ground along with their weapons for a moment before they regained their bearings around the same time. Their gaze met for a moment before flicking to their respective weapon, making a dash for them before clashing once more.

"Maybe one of you twerps can help me…deal with this twerp." Roman spoke while glancing every so often at one of the three teenagers on Cinder's sides, unable to take his eyes away from the teen in front of him for long.

"I think you're handling it well enough." Mercury said with a shrug, right before Raiden stepped back to pull a black chain with two weights on either end of it out of his shadow.

Before Roman had a chance to fight back, Raiden hurled the chain at him, which wound itself around his body until he couldn't move a single limb. Gingerly, the Shadowcaster walked up to Torchwick with a smug grin as he kicked the crimelord to the ground.

"Ok, I'll admit." Roman said with an obnoxious eye-roll. "You've got some pretty slick tricks, kiddo. What say we call it a tie?"

Flipping the longsword in his grip as its blade extended forward, the black-haired teen braced one of his feet on top of Roman's neck as he prepared to drive the shiny-black blade through the man's neck. "Why _not_?"

However, just as he raised the sword to strike, a bolt of orange energy struck Raiden in the side and blew him and his sword across the warehouse, slamming into the wall. All eyes fell on Cinder, who looked just as shocked at the extended hand that seemed to have been controlled by the bolt instead of the other way around. It was gone in a split second as she grabbed and lowered the hand using her free hand. "Enough." She spoke firmly. "We don't have time for you boys to tear each other apart."

Sliding off the wall and falling unsteadily to his feet, Raiden reached for his sword again. This time though, he hesitated before sliding it into the magnetic sheath on his back. "So I assume you're going to make me a deal or-" before he was able to finish the sentence, Raiden was put on the defensive by a low war cry from the direction of the broken entrance to the warehouse.

Turning around, the teen was almost bisected along his waist by a crimson katana blade. Out of his own shadow, Raiden quickly pulled out a pair of pitch-black daggers after ducking under the slash.

He was quick to parry the strike and leap backwards, putting some distance between him and the Faunus.

"You'll pay for what you did to my men!" Adam shouted, lost in a blinding fury.

"Piss off, you horned-devil!" Raiden retorted as he combined the daggers to make a spear made out of his shadow.

"I said, enough!" Cinder shrieked, sending out an unexpected shockwave of orange energy and knocking everyone in the warehouse over. Again, Cinder's eyes widened at the sudden burst of power that she didn't know she possessed. Making a mental note to maintain a better control over her emotions, the ash-haired woman decided, instead, to capitalise on the current situation as best she could. "I can't afford for you to waste _my_ time killing each other! Now, you will do as I say or you will join the dead outside."

For a few moments, everyone lay sprawled on the floor. Some were still trying to shake off the concussion that came with being knocked to the floor by a shockwave, while others were in shock of the power Cinder had at her disposal. Even Torchwick, who was finally able to wriggle free of his black chains as they deteriorated after a second, didn't feel any less vulnerable under Cinder's scrutinizing leer.

Getting back up slowly, Adam was the first to respond. "I'll…reorganise the able-bodied men." He said, leaving without another word.

The fury in Cinder's vision was still clearing as a slow clap came from one end of the room, where Raiden Alexander was picking himself off the floor. "That was an impressive display, Miss Fall. Alright, I'll listen to your offer."

Letting out a sigh, Cinder guessed that she might as well take what she could get from the obnoxious boy before she accidentally killed him. "Roman, leave us and see if you can contact some of your 'friends' within the Mistral Police Department."

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Torchwick muttered as he followed Adam's lead out the open doorway.

Turning back to Raiden, she quickly blinked away the last of the fury before speaking again. "Follow me." She said as she gestured for the trio around her to get back up. "The rest of you get packing – we move out once I've briefed Raiden."

"Ok, let me guess. You've got a loose end you want me to tie up in exchange for something." Raiden asked as he sent a wink Emerald's way, receiving an eye-roll in response.

"Something like that." Cinder explained, not bothering to hold the door to her make-shift office open. Still, Raiden pushed forward as Cinder picked up a photograph off the table and showed it to the Shadowcaster. "Look familiar?"

Raiden took a moment to stare at the man in the picture before tossing it back onto Cinder's desk with the flick of a wrist, eyebrows scrunched in concentration. "No, why? Some big-shot I should know about?"

Opening up her Scroll, Cinder also attempted to access some of the corrupted files over the server link, only to find the familiar flickering symbol appear. "How about this?" she asked, handing Raiden her Scroll.

"This is…the symbol that came with the message I got." The teen thought out loud.

"The person that sent you the message and the boy in the picture are the same person." The ash-haired woman explained. "The mission I have for you is simple: I want that boy dead. In exchange I'll just forget that you ever existed."

With a sarcastic huff, Raiden passed the Scroll back to Cinder. "You expect me to track down this guy, risk my life killing him and not get paid?"

"I don't think you were listening to me, Mr. Alexander." Cinder hissed dangerously. "I said that _I_ wanted the boy dead. That means you are to bring him to me alive."

"Oh, that's great! Would you like me to bring you a unicorn as well while I'm at it? Or how about the crown jewels of the Mistral monarchy and a piece of the moon, since I'm headed in that direction?" Raiden yelled bitterly.

"Do not test my patience, Raiden!" Cinder yelled back. "You should be grateful I am willing to give you such mercy in the first place."

"Don't forget, Fall. I may not be an old, seasoned hag – like yourself," As Raiden spoke, his shadow grew longer and deeper. "But I have powers you could never imagine in your worst nightmare."

"Would you like to prove that? Right here, right now?" Cinder hissed out through gritted teeth as a flame seemed to light up in her one visible eye. There was a moment where neither figure would budge as tension began to rise and either figure prepared to strike the other down first.

However, just as it had started, the tension abruptly ended with Raiden bursting into restrained laughter. Though Cinder hardly found the situation amusing, it was a good sign and she relaxed somewhat. "Oh, Cinder. You still know how to make a grown man shit himself with fear." He said in between chuckles. "Like, really. You should've seen your face."

"I try." Cinder simply replied, causing Raiden to break down into an even stronger fit of laughter.

"Alright, alright. So, how do I find this guy?" he finally asked after composing himself.

As if on cue, Cinder's Scroll flashed with an alert. Checking it quickly, she took a moment to smile at what she saw before showing it to Raiden. On the Scroll was a simple text message which read, 'YOU_WANT_M3? IM_R1GHT_HERE' below it was an address to what seemed like an apartment block further in the Kingdom of Mistral itself. "I believe he's just told us where to find him."

"Us?" Raiden asked while sending Cinder a quizzical look.

"I doubt you would understand, but I need to make sure that this boy doesn't slip from my grasps again because I sent some incompetent lackey to do my job." Cinder retorted, a hint of bite to her tone.

"Fine, whatever." Raiden replied before pausing for a moment to think about the situation. "You do realise that this is probably a trap, right?"

The half-Maiden scoffed before replying. "I wouldn't have it any other way." She said with a cold smile. "Now get ready. We're moving out in five minutes." With that, she turned her back on the teen and pushed open the door to her office. "If you wouldn't mind stepping out for a moment?"

Raiden complied just as he felt a familiar vibration in his pocket. Pulling out his Scroll, his eyebrows knitted in confusion of the unfamiliar contact number. Opening the message, he could swear that the blood in the back of his neck chilled somewhat at what was written.

'YOU_M4DE_Y0UR5ELF_A_TARG3T'

The shadowcaster almost dropped his Scroll when he jumped at the sound of Cinder's door slamming shut.

* * *

 **Three hours ago…**

With the flick of a switch, Overwatch's engines shut off and began to cool while T took the time to relax back into his custom-made leather pilot seat, having had to replace the one that had been ejected with one of the better chairs he kept in the storage compartment of the airship.

The flight back to his base of operations had been unnerving enough with the thunderstorm that suddenly rolled in and how one engine would sometimes shut off by itself, but now he was faced with the long task of preparing for the next phase in operations.

Quickly running his thumb over the worn piece of paper that he kept in his pocket for reassurance, he quickly rose out of his seat and turned to face each of the men sitting in their own corner of the Bullhead – his team.

The hacker barely gave them any indication of acknowledgement before he opened the hatches to the airship, which released smoothly with a hiss.

 _No, not smoothly. The starboard hatch door shuddered when it opened. Damage sustained from the firefight could have affected the internal hydraulics._ He thought as his cybernetic eye began running schematic comparisons to the damaged components that he could detect. _Overwatch will require an overhaul._

"This is our stop." T simply said before jumping out to assess the damage done to the faulty engine. They had landed on the landing pad provided by the apartment building, the ground made slick by the constant rainfall.

It only took a quick scan for T to recognize that he would need to make some major repairs before Overwatch would be fit to fly into combat anytime soon. _The primary fuel line is cracked and the electrical combustion mechanism is shot…it'll be easier to replace the whole internal combustion mechanism._

"H-hey!" SK shouted as he jumped off the airship, pulling his brown cowl over his head as he did. "I s-still have more questions."

"Later. I have to begin with Overwatch's repairs immediately." T replied without turning away from his Scroll as he pulled out a manifest of the parts that he needed, comparing it with an inventory check that he made yesterday.

"W-why, what's the rush?"

"I'll explain later." T had to raise his voice over the distant thunder as he turned to face the rogue this time. "Vermillion," he spoke up, turning to Tanner as he hopped off the airship while cradling his injured side. "-take them up to the safe-house and don't stop for anything."

"You still haven't given me-"

"I just did." T cut off the swordsman, who had to pause to check his Scroll. Upon seeing the access codes to the digital lock on the safe house, he made a gesture for SK to follow him as Mason finally got out of the Bullhead, happily munching on what looked to be freshly cooked beef jerky, but was absolutely _not_ beef jerky.

"I have to say T-man," he said with his mouth full of not-beef jerky. "-you're airstrike machine handles like it's MLG."

Tapping a command on his Scroll, a hexagonal shape within the landing pad separated to take the Bullhead into its designated storage lot beneath the landing pad, along with the other airships owned by residents of the apartment.

As T and the airship began to descend, T shouted over the sound of the machinery. "Touch Overwatch's flight controls again and it'll be the last thing you ever use those hands for."

"Y'know, that's kinda funny!" Mason shouted back. "I can't remember how many times I've heard that line."

As the hatch to the storage lots slowly closed, T was able to show Mason his middle finger just before they sealed shut with a hiss.

Inside the apartment, where it was warm and dry, Tanner and SK waited patiently inside an elevator as it slowly took them to their designated floor. An awkward silence hung over the two until the Desert Raider brought a topic on his mind up.

"Shouldn't we have waited for that c-cannibal before coming up here? I mean, he's down there by himself, and if his track r-record is any indication he's probably going to go looking for trouble."

"Don't get your poncho twisted." Tanner said with a knowing smirk. "The redhead left his nuclear-powered dirty bomb up in the apartment, and he said there was no way he would leave without it." There was a pause where Tanner considered what he had said before he spoke again. "That sounded better in my head."

"Yeah," SK squeaked while bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet. "It probably did. Y-you wouldn't mind pointing out the bomb to me so I could…I don't know, disarm i-it?"

"I think it'd be pretty hard to miss. It's the one with all the biohazard and stickers of drugs and some weird leaf smoking a cigare-yeah, it's impossible to miss." The brunette concluded as they reached their floor.

"Ok…I don't suppose y-you've been working with T long either?" SK asked as they walked up to the front double door, which seemed to be an expensive mahogany.

"Not unless you consider two and a half weeks 'long'." The swordsman said as he pressed his Scroll to a built-in scanner, which made a lock click and allowed him to push open the door with ease.

"Right, so it'd be a little presumptuous of me to ask you if you k-know what T's planning to do next." SK said as he slowly took in the apartment suite. "Cause I n-need answers and all I got were vague – wow, this place is a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be."

"I know, and I have no idea what 'presumptuous' means, so I'm just going to have to answer with, 'No'." Tanner said as he unslung his sash of Dust and threw it on the marble table to the right.

"Am I supposed to take off my s-shoes or something?" the black-haired teen asked while dropping his knapsack behind the pristine-white couch that had been positioned in front of a television set.

"Nah, just don't touch T's equipment and he won't try to choke you to death." Tanner said while walking through an open doorway into what looked to be a kitchen. "You want a soda?" he said while rummaging through a refrigerator.

"Later, just tell me w-where the bomb is – I'll feel better knowing it won't go off." SK said while he removed his poncho and hung it up on a coat hanger. "I don't care what the guy from Atlas said; this poncho is really irritating." He muttered under his breath.

"If you're going to buy a poncho, take my advice and don't buy one from Atlas. Vale or Vacuo would be better – they actually use some form of natural fabric." The brunette said as his bright-orange eyes spotted what he was looking for at the back of the fridge.

"Yeah, I s-should've bought one before I left." The rogue muttered under his breath, his tone taking a sullen turn.

"Well, can't you just go back and buy another one?" Tanner asked as he pulled out his sabre to remove the bottle-cap for his soda.

SK froze at the mention of going back to Vacuo for a moment before he tried to cover it up with whatever confidence he could muster. "I-I…don't want to talk about it."

Tanner looked like he was about to continue inquiring about the stutter, but stuck the end of the glass bottle into his mouth before any words could escape. "The bomb's on the floor behind the table." He said after finding the voice in his throat again.

The change of topic brought out SK's more resolute side as he quickly went about peeling back the panel held together by old chewing gum before disabling the trigger mechanism. He was finally able to breathe out a sigh of relief before he jumped to his feet in shock as the door to the apartment block slammed open.

"I'm home!" Mason hollered at the top of his lungs before shaking his head back and forth, trying to get the rain-water out of his afro.

Both swordsmen recoiled in disgust as droplets of the oily water hit them. "Ugh, that's disgusting! I'm going to catch some kind of skin infection because of you!" Tanner practically shrieked – in a manly way.

"Where's the bleach?" SK shouted as if he were being burnt alive as he ran towards the bathroom.

"Trust me, bro." Mason said as he dropped his weapons on the smooth marble floor, cracking a few tiles. "If you've been around me this long, you've probably already contracted some kind of flesh-eating parasite."

The Atlas-born swordsman had to actually pause his train of thought to consciously consider what the redhead cannibal just said before responding. "Why do you have flesh-eating parasites in you?"

"It's called passive effects, duh!" Mason said with an eye roll. "If the parasites pass on to whoever I'm fighting, the rate at which they devour their flesh will slow their fighting prowess tremendously."

"That doesn't make any fucking sense!" Tanner was close to snapping at this point, his passionate fury only quelled by T entering the room, drenched from head to toe.

He left a trail of rainwater on the floor as he walked over to the glossy marble table and left the box of tools he had in his hand on it.

"I didn't say you could take a soda." T said, directing the words to Tanner in his rough voice as he pulled out his Scroll to check something.

"…So can I have this soda?" Tanner asked after taking another swig of the cherry-red liquid.

"Yes." He breathed out while turning to face the three of them once SK stepped out of the bathroom, wiping bleach off his cheek and outfit with a rag he kept with him. "Get some rest – we'll need to move out again soon." He pointed down one hallway in the apartment block. "Guest rooms are that way."

"Hey, I still w-want answers!" the rogue raised his voice as T walked the other way and sat down into a swivel chair before kicking himself over to his nest of computer monitors and processors. "Why are you going against Cinder? What's the next move in this operation? How did you get such a nice apartment block?"

The hacker spun around in his chair to face SK before speaking. "You'll know what you need when you need to know it, Desert Raider. But know this; I am not your enemy – Cinder is. And she will never leave you in peace, which is why we need to strike her first."

SK was at a loss for words as he wondered why the hacker sounded so familiar. Before he had a chance to respond, T swivelled back to face his monitors while still speaking over his shoulder. "Get some rest; crossing through three Kingdoms in a month can be very tiring – especially when you're always on the move." Leaving SK to wonder whether or not he was speaking from experience, or from some factor that he wasn't aware of.

Resigning to take what little information he could get out of the hacker, SK breathed out a tired sigh as he walked backwards for a few steps.

Before tripping in the puddles of water brought into the apartment. He hit the marble floor with a loud thud, but shakily got back up and tried to pretend like he wasn't in any pain when everybody stared at him.

"Don't feel so bad," Tanner said when the rogue walked past him. "-that's more than I can usually get out of him." downing the last of the soda in his glass bottle.

SK let out a huff of annoyance at that. "Some t-team player he must be." He muttered under his breath while holding onto his bruised side. It was only now that he was given this chance to rest did the rogue realise how heavy his light clothes felt and how tired his muscles were. "Whatever, I'm going to get some rest." He didn't even feel like taking a shower after having gone so long without properly cleaning himself, deciding once he locked the door to the bedroom behind him that he could take care of it tomorrow.

"…Hey, who defused my bomb?"


	19. Chapter 14

Closing Shop

 **Three Hours later…**

In his simple bed, Tanner tossed and turned – restless and finding deep-sleep difficult. Instead, his mind dreamt and his actions in his dreams translated into his actions in real life.

"Mhm, Jessica." He moaned in his sleep. "You smell lovely today." Turning over and burying his face in his pillow.

The brunette was so caught up in his restless dream, he didn't notice the door to his room open or feel the presence that entered. Twisting and turning, Tanner didn't realise anyone else was there until they jumped onto his bed and trapped him on all fours. And even then, Tanner thought it was just a part of his dream.

"Oh, getting ahead of things are we?" he mumbled as he turned over. This time, the golden-brunette unconsciously reached up with his hands, encircling them around the body on top of him. "Mmh, honey, you need to shave."

 _Wait…_

Tanner's eyes suddenly shot open at the realisation that not everything he was feeling was a dream, and almost fell out of his bed with a yelp as his eyes locked onto those of the dog standing on top of him.

The dog seemed to be some breed of shepherd's dog had a golden coat of fur with a few black patches across its body and covering most of its face, which was just barely visible in the low light of his room. Its eyes were a hazel-brown colour and its teeth looked too white and perfect to be real. It's fur was also soft and clean-looking, like it had just had a bath, while seeming cleaner than any dog should normally be.

Before the brunette was able to say anything, the dog jumped off his bed and left out the open door to his room. It was then that Tanner also realised that the lights in the hall were on, causing him to toss his blankets aside to get up and take a look at what was going on.

As well as find out where the hell did they got a dog.

Walking out of his room, Tanner had to give his eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden amount of light, just like last time. However, this time, the brunette also grabbed Beofield from behind the door to his room. It wasn't that he expected a fight or felt threatened, it was just that he still felt somewhat uncertain about the new company they kept.

Quickly taking in his surroundings, it seemed at first that the brunette was the first one up. He took a moment to look out the window of the apartment and a quick glance at the wall-mounted clock, finding out that he had only been asleep for about three hours.

Mentally shrugging it off, Tanner reminded himself that it wasn't anything new to him as he continued to sweep the apartment for T, annoyed at having been rudely awakened.

That was when the sound of static reached his ears. And not just static, but also the sound of sparks spitting, which was cause for concern itself. The sound was coming from T's workspace, and when Tanner rounded the corner to the workspace, the sight before him greatly confused the brunette.

T was at his table, tapping away furiously at the multiple keyboards as each screen began flashing with large error warnings and static while the hard-drives below began overloading and overheating.

"T, what's going on?" Tanner asked, now fully concerned to know that T himself was responsible for their condition.

For a couple of seconds, T didn't make any form of respond before he suddenly spun around in his chair and marched right past Tanner. "There isn't much time. Grab all your gear and wake the others up."

Completely forgoing any sort of greeting, T moved over to their war table to begin sweeping various tools and materials into different piles. This was the point that Tanner decided he had enough of the cyborg's ambiguity and confronted him directly, grabbing him by the shoulder and forcing him to look directly at him.

"Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on!" Tanner stated clearly with a glare. "What is going on? Why are we suddenly packing up?" he said, gesturing to the glass table. "When did we get a dog?" he cried out, waving his hands and his sabre around hysterically.

Locking eyes with T, the cyborg just shrugged Tanner's hand off his shoulder as he moved over to the foldable workbench that had been set up so that the war table could be cleared for mission briefings. "I'll explain once everyone's up." He said as he began knocking things off the workbench and onto the floor.

The brunette could practically feel the blood underneath his skin begin to boil as his Dust-infused scarf began to glow with a searing heat. He had just about enough of T constantly brushing him off and only revealing pieces of important information if he felt like it. However, just as he was about to go off after T a second time, a shout from the opposite end of the apartment caught his attention.

"Agh! Dog!" he heard the Vacuo-born rogue yell before the sound of steel being swung about followed the surprised tone. Turning around, Tanner watched as the shepherd dog practically leapt out of SK's room with the black-haired boy following close behind, falchion drawn and swinging at the dog. "Nobody panic, but there's a dog in the apartment!"

"Nobody's panicking but you, dumbass!" Tanner yelled over the sound of chairs being knocked over as SK pursued the dog with his sword drawn while trying to properly fit his glasses onto his face. It wasn't until the shepherd dog had jumped up on the wooden table covered in different types of preserved food that the rogue stopped swinging wildly in order to line up the blade of his weapon for a stab aimed straight for the head.

However, as SK drove his sword forward, the shepherd dog suddenly angled its head in such a way that it was able to catch the blade of the weapon with his teeth, holding it firmly in its jaws as it tried to wrestle the weapon out of the rogue's grasp. SK stared at the dog with wide eyes as both his hands flew to the hilt of his weapon, trying to prevent the dog from tearing it from his grasp. As he turned to Tanner for help, he found that Tanner was frozen in a similar state of shock.

"Good dog…" SK cooed as he tried to calm the dog into letting go of the end of his blade, but all it did was elicit a growl from the canine. "Let go you son of a-" he began threatening, but it was cut short by a quick whistle, which caused the dog to let go of the end of the falchion and sit on its hind legs, head up in attention.

All eyes fell on T as he quickly pulled his scarf back over his face before speaking. "Dimples, play nice." Upon hearing the command, the dog let out a soft bark and jumped off the table to go sit against the wall. Immediately after, the cyborg fixed the rogue with a stern glare. "Do not harm my dog."

"I didn't know you had a dog!" SK yelled back as he began sheathing his sword, never taking his eyes off the dog.

"Well, now you do." T stated as he began sweeping the different bags of dried food into different corners of the table. "Dimples, company. Company, Dimples." He said as he waved his hand between Tanner and the dog.

"Company?" Tanner asked.

"Dimples?" SK followed up.

"Mason!" the berserker suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention to his presence.

"Whoa, when did you get up?" Tanner asked as he jumped backwards a few inches.

"And why is there a damp spot on your pants?" SK followed up once more, pointing at the large spot on the redhead's crotch. Because of the dark-brown colour of his three-quarter pants, Tanner wasn't able to tell what colour the liquid was, but decided it was best he didn't know.

Looking down to where the onyx-haired rogue was pointing, Mason just shrugged his shoulders while giving a cocky grin. "What can I say; I wasn't going to get much sleep anyway."

"Alright." T interrupted as he pulled out his Scroll. "That's enough. Now that we're all up I need everyone to grab their gear – we're moving to our secondary base of operations."

"You still haven't told us why-" Tanner was about to go off again, but T cut him off.

"Cinder knows where we are and is on her way right now."

Tanner's eyes widened in surprise at hearing this, and immediately followed it up with the question that everyone else had in mind. "How did she find us? I thought you had this place hidde-"

"I told her where we are." The cyborg cut the brunette off again, and it took him a second to process what he had just said.

"Why?" Tanner and SK cried out at the same time.

This time, T actually stopped what he was doing to regard the two. "We can't beat Cinder if she's always hiding in the dark – we need to lure her out." T spoke with clenched fists. "And not just lure her out, we need to lure her into our own turf where we can set a trap – get her while she's still sure of herself." With that, the cyborg tossed his Scroll backwards and onto the table, which caused it to project several three-dimensional numbers into the air. "ETA, fifteen minutes."

As the explanation went on, Tanner's expression changed from one of rage to a familiar understanding, though the anger didn't completely leave him. SK, not having been around T long enough, still didn't understand how things worked with him and was just as angry as before.

"And you didn't think to consult us before you went ahead with your plans?" he asked while waving his arms about incredulously.

To this, T walked right up to SK before speaking in a threatening tone. "I don't have time to waste consulting the likes of you. Deciding on our next course of action would lead us to indecision – time we could better spend fighting Cinder. This is how things work here; I tell you what to do, and you do it. End of story."

SK simply shook his head with a grimace in reply. "That's not how I do things."

"Well get used to it." He hissed out from behind his mask before turning back to Tanner. "You know what to do. Grab your gear and follow Dimples, he'll lead you to Overwatch."

"Yeah, sure." Tanner said as he turned in a small circle for a quick second. "Asshat." He muttered when he wasn't facing T before turning to face Mason. "Come on, let's go blow something up." He said with a beckoning gesture.

"You had me at 'blow something'." Mason conceded as he began following Tanner's lead. SK looked like he was about to follow the swordsman as well, but a robotic arm quickly blocked his path as T stepped in his way.

"I need to talk to you for a moment." T simply stated as if it were a command he couldn't refuse. _He probably can't refuse even if he tried._ Tanner realised as he went back to his room to get the other half of his weapon set.

* * *

Releasing a sigh that he had been holding back, SK simply stared at T before asking. "What?"

For a while, T said and did nothing but hold the intense gaze as his cybernetic eye began to glow brighter and the rogue felt his resolve slowly being chipped away. It didn't take more than a few seconds before the black-haired teen began trying to look at anything else that wasn't the hacker in front of him.

However, as if it were some kind of unspoken test, T suddenly dropped his stoic demeanour as he reached behind his back to grab something off the table and hold it up for SK to see. "A gesture of good-will."

Staring down at the clunky bronze-coloured metal object in T's hand, the rogue gained a confused look for a few seconds before realising what it was: a bracer. "Thanks, b-but no thanks." He replied. Usually, SK wouldn't refuse a free piece of gear or equipment, but given what had just transpired between them, the rogue was finding it difficult in the dry, cold organ that was his heart to trust the cyborg just yet.

 _It's probably got like, three kinds of trackers, vital monitors and kill switches. Definitely kill switches._

However, T wasn't going to just let him pass up the display of charity as he pushed the bracer against SK's chest. "The open wound in your left wrist is a vulnerability that your opponent can exploit. If it won't heal, then this will protect it."

At the mention of the cut on his wrist, SK's first reaction surprise at how T knew about its condition. "H-how do you know that it won't..." however, the black-haired rogue was quick to cover it up with an indignant scoff. "It is not that big of a deal."

The cyborg proved him wrong when he used his left hand to firmly grasp the bandaged wrist, digging his thumb into the cut as he did and eliciting a pained yell from the rogue as he dropped to his knees. "I rest my case."

"Fuck, that hurt!" SK yelled as he got back up to his feet, making sure to keep his injured arm as far as he could from T while confronting him directly.

"Exactly." T stated as he held up the bracer to chest height. "This bracer has a built in Aura and vital-counter that monitors your physical and internal condition, as well as being able to adjust tight enough to effectively force the wound close, preventing any bleeding." The hacker explained as he forced the bronze piece of armour against SK's chest. "I'm not going have any vulnerability within my company, so either put it on or I'll put it on you in your sleep."

Hesitating for only a second, SK had no doubt that T would follow up his claim and reluctantly took the bracer, removing his bandages first before clasping the device around his left wrist, completely covering the injury as it locked into place. The rogue felt a slight pressure in his wrist as the device automatically adjusted itself so that it tightened around his wrist before settling on a comfortable, skin-fit.

"I'm guessing that's not all this thing does." SK mused to himself as he held it against the light, enjoying how its polished surface shimmered in the artificial light of the apartment.

"The bracer collects and transmits real-time data to your Scroll to look at later. Cartography, vitals, Scroll signals that you can intercept, the good stuff." T explained.

"Alright, then how do I-"

"I already synchronised it to your Scroll's signal." T cut him off, explaining the question before it could fully be spoken. "Just twist your palm upwards and wave your hand across the bracer to activate it."

SK did as he was told and was surprised at what happened next. His eyes widened in surprise as his whole left arm from below the wrist became encircled by different coloured screens of light, each representing a different function that the bracer had. _How the hell does it know what percentage integrity it has?_

"This is…pretty impressive." SK complimented as he lowered his arm to his side.

"There's something else." T continued. "The bracer also contains a micro-missile launcher that can launch a salvo of four missiles at a time." He said as he grabbed the bracer and tapped a button on the side to cause two compartments on either side of the bracer to pop up and reveal two missiles each, no larger than a Human finger docked in different miniature silos and ready to be fired. "Aim and paint with your glasses."

With that, T walked away to resume his packing, not explaining anything else to SK, which left him wondering what the cyborg meant by 'aim and paint'. The rogue was also confused about the hacker's motives towards having built a weapon just for him. He had no doubt that T had been honest about not wanting a weak link within his team – something he understood from his time in Vacuo, but he wondered if there wasn't an ulterior motive hidden under the layers of bronze and steel he wore. His inquiring eventually led to him asking himself how T was able to build this in under three hours. _Even if he knew what he was doing, I doubt that he had the correct parts on hand to just put them together like that…which means…_ SK shook his head gently, putting the thought aside for a later date.

"Hey, how come the new guy gets a rocket-launching bracelet and I don't?" Tanner questioned as he hefted a crate with him towards the entrance of the apartment.

"Why would you need a missile launcher?" SK asked as he continued to fiddle with the different parts of the bracer.

"Why would _you_ need a missile launcher?" Tanner asked, deflecting the question back at him.

"I don't." SK stated as he walked over to where his poncho hung off the coat-hanger. "I just need the bracer – the missile launcher is a bonus."

* * *

 **Eleven minutes later…**

It didn't take long before everyone's necessities were loaded up onto the airship. Despite having told the others repeatedly to only take what they necessarily needed, T found that their perception of necessities and luxuries was greatly warped to the point that they overlapped, unnecessarily.

T also recognised that they wasted a great amount of precious time negotiating, so after the first two incidents, T just quietly unloaded anything that they put on his ship that he deemed 'unnecessary'. He would only be lying to himself if he said that he didn't expect them to retaliate once they realised whatever they had packed was missing, but the hacker also conceded that he would cross that bridge when they get to it.

After having decided that they were just about done, T pulled out his Scroll and began typing in a command for the apartment complex's airship docking system to begin its rundown. After the large machine had finished its start-up procedures, T followed it up with the command to return Overwatch to the surface for take-off.

Over the course of the last two and a half hours, T had spent all of his time performing as many quick repairs as he could on the Bullhead, while simultaneously planning out what to do next in his head. Like the airship, the plan wasn't perfect, but it would work until he had time to make it perfect.

Immediately, the various platforms inside the docking system began shifting to move the platform Overwatch was stationed on to the central elevator, which led them up to the surface. All this took about two and a half minutes, so he knew that they'd be cutting it short.

While he had lied about the estimated time that Cinder would arrive, that didn't mean they had hours to waste before she got here. Truth be told, he had only sent out the message to Cinder and begin the system-wide wipe just as he sent Dimples to wake Tanner up, which meant that they still had roughly ten minutes to get out of here before the ash-haired woman arrived. However, T was not one for taking chances, and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

As they approached the surface, the roof of the underground garage system opened up to reveal that it had stopped raining, though many clouds still dotted the sky, some obscuring the broken moon somewhat as the elevator stopped once they reached surface-level with the apartment.

Running his hand along the length of bow of the airship, T performed one last system check with his Scroll before initiating the pre-flight procedures. He climbed in through one of the open doorways to see that everyone was sitting in their respective corner of the ship. Mason was idly fiddling with his Scroll near the aft of the ship, while SK and Tanner sat in opposite corners closer to the cockpit, each going over their respective weapons and keeping their distance from the berserker.

"We're taking off." T announced as he climbed into the cockpit, not receiving any words of acknowledgement from the others as he picked up his earpiece and microphone from the dashboard of the pilot seat.

Just as he was about to power up the engines for the airship, he heard Tanner's voice calling from the passenger compartment. "Mind telling us where we're going?"

T thought for a moment about his reply as Dimples made his way over to the cockpit and jumping into the co-pilot seat next to him, eventually calling back. "Somewhere safe." With that, he turned to make sure that the scruffy dog next to him was firmly strapped into his seat and equipped with his own set of headgear before tuning out the rest of the world as he turned on his headset and focussed on flying the Bullhead.

"Pre-flight adjustments have been completed." Overwatch's smooth, accented voice said through his earpiece so that only he could hear her. "I would recommend further tests before we actually attempt-"

"No time like the present. Let's take her up." T muttered into the earpiece as he powered up the engines and took the airship into a hover above the ground before plotting in the coordinates for their destination and fired the thrusters.

As they began climbing in altitude, the airship shuddered from time to time due to irregular output from the engines, but the flight-path was steady and it never lost control.

"We've reached steady altitude and have blended in with the Mistral traffic." Overwatch stated as T switched over to auto-pilot as he relaxed into his pilot's seat. Having gone almost twenty-eight hours without sleep was finally taking its toll on him and the leather seat was beginning to feel too good not to nap in.

"Take us the rest of the way, Overwatch." T mumbled as his eyes began sliding shut and his body relaxed into the soft cushioning.

Before T was able to completely slip into unconsciousness however, a last request rang out from Overwatch. "Would you like some music, sir?"

The hacker wasn't even really conscious of his answer as he replied back with, "Play my favourite song, then put on my playlist."

With a soft ping to indicate that there had been a switch in applications, an upbeat tune began playing right after Overwatch's voice chimed, "Now playing 'Best of You' by the Food Fighters."

As the song played on T's mind carelessly drifted off to a time long since passed and to some things T would rather left buried. Gradually, no matter how hard he tried to keep his eyes open, the cockpit, the airship, every slowly faded into a grey blur as he felt his body relax.

* * *

 **Years Ago…**

Taking a moment to catch his breath, T was sure he was going to feel that last punch in the morning as he dived out of the way of the large boy's next punch.

"Hold still, rat!" he cried as he rolled out of the way of a kick and a stomp from one of the other kids participating in the fight. Scrambling to his feet, the brunette took the moment of distance between himself and the other kids to get a sense of his spatial awareness.

In front of him were three of the toughest, most brutish boys in the village that he lived in. He didn't know their names – heck, he didn't really know them at all – but they had all exchanged their fair share of punches with T over the last minute or so. Surrounding them was a circle of children – all members of the village as well. They cheered on no one in particular, simply expecting a good fight and possibly some broken teeth.

So far, T wasn't handling himself all too well. The other kids were faster, stronger, tougher, and overall better at this thing than he was, but he saw no other way out of this than to fight them.

Suddenly all three boys charged towards him. T's first instinct was to put some more distance between himself as them to think of something else. However, as he tried to backpedal away, he found himself against the ring of kids watching the fight. As he tried to back away from them, one or two sets of arms reached out and held him in place by his shoulders and arms, giving the three boys in front of him a clean shot at his whole body.

The first punch landed in his gut, which caused him to wretch forward before an uppercut threw his head back up, before a third subsequent punch hit him square in the cheek. By this point, T wasn't sure if the feeling in his mouth was him about to throw up or the taste of blood.

"That's what you get for stealing from us!" one of the boys shouted before punching him in the stomach again. The boy shouted several other things insults to T right after that, but he couldn't hear anything over the ringing in his ears.

His eyelids fluttered as his mind threatened to give out from the pain as another punch caused his legs to give out from the pain, crumpling to the floor at the feet of his tormentor. Looking up into the green eyes of the larger boy, he braced himself for another beating, but none came.

It took a while for his vision to clear up again, but after a few seconds, he saw why no more punches were being sent his way. The circle of boys had parted to make way for a figure no taller than any of them, but much more threatening than anyone amongst them. The three boys that had fought him moments ago now backed away from his curled up body with fearful eyes as they looked at tthe figure who stared right back at them with a death-glare.

However, all T saw was his savior.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm leaving this Author's Note down here for the sole purpose that I don't want people to miss this one (and not because I forgot and only remembered an hour later).**

 **First off, I want to start by thanking anonymous reviewer "Trase". You have no idea what that means to me and the rest of the team behind this story. To think that someone appreciates the amount of planning (there isn't actually THAT much planning, only a base layout) we put into the story is amazing and had me grinning like an idiot. That said, I also wanted toREDACTED**

 **SECURITY FIREWALL STATUS: Breached**

 **WORM IDENTIFICATION SOURCE: Codename T  
**

 **MESSAGE INTERCEPT Thank's for the review  
**

 **WORM CONNECTION Status: Terminated**

 **And it always helps if you could follow and favorite us as well, if not, then anonymous reviews are cool as well, just tell your friends about us later.**

 **Along with that, I just did a thing that made communication between viewer and reader all the more easy; I made the story a blog on Tumblr. You can find the blog under the name MSTT/DAWN, and you can find links to ALL the chapters on it, both for MSTT and for DAWN. Along with that, a plethora of content that you can only find on the blog will be put on the blog, including fanart, special messages and much more.**

 **What did everyone think of the surprise shepherd dog? Every good story needs an animal companion, and I just introduced ours. He's also got a ton more to him than meets the eye, so you can be sure that he'll play a big role in the future. Stay tune for the next chapter, it'll be up around sometime next week and it'll give us all a first look at one of the story's main antagonists, and a character with more STORY to him than this one.**

 **Also, I'd like to see if you, the reader, can pick out all the references I've hid in this chapter. You can start off with the song I included towards the end of the chapter (please don't sue me).**

 **Until next time.**


	20. Chapter 15

**A/N: There was an important Author's Note at the end of the last chapter, so if you haven't read it yet, then it would be nice of yo to take a couple seconds out of your time to take a look at it.**

 **Along with that, I'm getting to work on some top-notch fanart to be uploaded onto our Tumblr blog, so check it out. That's MSTT/DAWN on Tumblr. Thanks, and remember, every follow counts. I can't promise constant or consistent updates on the blog, but anything's better than typing out bland A/N's.**

Cold Trails

 **Five Days Ago…**

In one of General Ironwood's private strategy rooms, a ring of pictures and videos on replay rotated slowly around the three figures that stood inside it. Each one was studying whichever picture or video passed in front of them, raising their hands for the file to be drawn forward and enlarged if it caught their eye.

One of the three was General Ironwood himself, dressed in his usual uniform suit with his hands behind his back. The other was Specialist Winter Schnee, who took the time to study each video closely before taking down notes on her Scroll regarding each one.

The third person was a brunette man who couldn't have been older than thirty. Compared to Ironwood, he had a much slimmer build to him – much more like Winter. His messy brown hair was kept under a simple black beanie, with several strands sticking out along the sides. His eyes actually glowed a lapis hue, and his face showed clear signs of having experienced much in his life. He was covered from the neck down in a dark-grey tactical mesh body-armour sporting the Atlesian colour scheme of stark-white and sky-blue, while his legs were covered by silver-coloured cargo pants and a pair of grey and red combat boots that matched his fingerless gloves. Covering his upper body, he also wore a brown woollen jumper with a fur collar and had his hands crossed over one another.

For him, he didn't need to pause or enlarge any of the videos, as his perception of time was different to the other two people in the room with him. For him, time slowed down and sped up with a thought, giving him all the time he needed to study the pictures and videos that passed in front of him.

Closing his eyes for a split second, he felt the pull of the world around him for a brief moment in time before he felt himself catch up to the same speed as the others in the room. "Seen anything I haven't yet, Schnee?"

"That depends on what you're seeing, Stop." Winter muttered back. For a brief second, Stop looked over his shoulder at the girl to see that she had her face diligently buried in her Scroll.

Looking back forward, Agent Stop hesitated for a second before calling out into the darkness of the room. "Prefect, is that everything that we could gather on this…hacker."

Suddenly, a figure made of light appeared next to him, appearing as if he had suddenly walked into view as his front foot and face became visible before the rest of him. "Yes, Agent Stop." Prefect, the CCT Superintendent in Atlas, responded. "There was more, but it seems he corrupted the files before I could save them to an offline source.

Most of the world's advancements in robotics and synthetics came from Atlas, so it was no surprise that Atlas' CCT Superintendent was the first to experience software updates and upgrades in its capabilities. However, in the past two years, Ironwood had carefully steered his men on the job to try and design a Superintendent with a more militaristic personality, something that the Council deemed illegal.

Because of this, Prefect was often called upon to bring up information relevant and necessary for almost every theatre of war. As Prefect spoke, Ironwood turned around to face the two. "The information you have provided us with may not be complete, but it will suffice for Agent Stop's hunt."

Stop heard the open question in the statement itself, and slowly shook his head as he reached out to grab one of the photos and hold it to his face. "Well, it's definitely not going to be an easy one. All I got to work off from is what the guy looks like and that he's somewhere in Mistral." Turning to face Ironwood, Stop reached behind him to grab a projection of a map of Mistral. "And we all know how big Anima is."

"Not necessarily." The greying general said as he held up his Scroll and tapped in several commands. Immediately after he did, several more holographic displays appeared in between himself and the brunette.

Each display focussed on a blurry figure wearing a cowl with a scimitar strapped to his back. Ironwood enlarged one of the images, which showed a video recording of the figure as he was making his escape from the CCT Tower. "The virus this man tried to upload was designed to hijack out systems while remaining undetected."

"And if it weren't for our mysterious third-party, my calculations show that he would have succeeded before I was able to reboot and quarantine the virus." Prefect interjected as he held out his hand, causing a screen to materialise above his open palm. On it were lines of raw data that comprised the virus that the mysterious infiltrator had tried to upload. "This virus isn't like anything I've seen before." Prefect said in his raspy voice with a hint of wonder in his tone. "It's algorithm is advanced enough to simulate intelligence, but it's not intelligent."

Prefect continued to look on at the algorithm he held above his hand for moment before realising that he had gone off topic. Lowering his hand, he apologized briefly and asked Ironwood to continue. "Footage of surveillance cameras near the harbour show the same man boarding a boat to Mistral." Ironwood explained as a holographic screen appeared in front of him to show the mentioned recording. "While I doubt it, two attacks on Scroll-related facilities within the month seem like too much to be a coincidence. I want you to follow the hooded-man's trail; even if he's not related to our cyborg hacker, he still committed crimes worthy of a life-sentence in Atlas, and I want you to bring him in."

Stop was about to reply with an affirmation that he would carry out his mission with discretion, but Winter interrupted him by holding out her Scroll in front of him. "This is all I was able to interpret from what I saw. You'll have to forgive me, Agent, but I am needed elsewhere at the moment."

After Stop took the Scroll rom her hands, she turned to salute the general, who returned it automatically. "Thank you, Schnee. Your input is always valued."

Lowering her hand to her side, Winter turned and locked eyes with the brunette briefly before giving a parting, "Be careful." And walking towards the exit to the room.

In that instance, however, Stop caught one of the rare moments that a Schnee showed any sign of emotion at all, and he held that split-second for a whole five seconds. Schnees' were spoken of as some of the coldest, most calculative people in the world – the kind that treated you like dirt if you were of no value to them.

Which is why Stop ran after her.

"I'll be right back, sir." The brunette said before dismissing himself and running to catch up to Winter. When he did, Stop halted her just as she was about to walk out the door with a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

For a second, Winter just stared at him blankly before gently removing his hand from her shoulder. "Nothing's wrong, Stop. Don't let me keep you from your mission."

At that, the brunette rolled his lapis-lazuli eyes and gave a small smirk. "I've got all the time in the world, remember?"

This got a reaction out of Winter. It may have just been the smallest hint of a smile, but it was a reaction nonetheless. "You do realise that General Ironwood doesn't share your perspective, right?" her tone was cold, but it was always cold. This cold, however, had life to it, something absent in her tone more than half the time.

"Winter," Stop warned with a serious expression, though he kept his tone soft. "I know you better than this – so what's wrong?"

The alabaster-haired girl said nothing for a few seconds before eventually folding her arms and looking Stop right in the eye. "I have a bad feeling about this one, Tom." She said, using his real first-name. "I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the way he planned out every step, or maybe it's the way he killed without remorse, like-"

"A machine." The brunette finished for her, to which she nodded her agreement.

"Just, keep your guard." She warned, and though there wasn't much expression in her voice, her eyes told a different story. The dim light of the room reflected in her blue irises and showed clear signs of worry and concern, if you looked hard enough.

The sight brought back memories for Stop, and he couldn't help but give a fond smile. "You know, no matter what kind of sword you use and whatever rank you may get," Stop said as he gestured to her clothing and the weapon at her side. "-you'll always be that seven year-old that had no idea what a piggyback was."

Winter forcefully rolled her eyes at that and let out a small groan. "Are you never going to let me live that down?"

"Never."

In response, Winter let out a huff as the ends of her mouth started to curve upwards. "Well, I suppose I'm too old for one now."

Stop nodded in understanding. "I suppose everyone has to grow up eventually." The brunette turned and nodded towards the door to the room. "You have somewhere to be – I won't hold you back any longer."

At the mention of their need to part ways, Winter's face seemed to fall into a frown once more, though it was hard to tell as her expression hardly changed from its neutral state. "I believe I do." She muttered to herself before letting out a small sigh. "Be careful, Tom." Without saying another word, the white-haired woman walked to the door – which opened for her – and stepped out of the room, the closing door obscuring Tom's view of her.

 _I suppose I should get back to it._ The brunette thought in his mind as he looked back to where Ironwood was still standing expectantly. Not wanting to waste any more time, Tom's eyes glowed slightly brighter as he focussed his mind and began looking on as everything around him slowed to half its normal speed. Once that was set, he walked back over to exactly where he had been at a brisk pace before everything began moving at normal speed again.

"My apologies, General." Tom quickly stated as he stood at attention, much to Ironwood's confusion. It only lasted a second though, as his face became stoic once more.

"Did you at least have a chance to look over what Winter recorded on the Scroll?" the general asked with a sigh.

"Umm…" the brunette began stalling as he opened up the Scroll and began accessing the recent notes. "Give me a second."

"Save your energy, Stop." Ironwood said before Stop was able to activate his Semblance once again. "While you took a moment to yourself, I had time to look over Winter's findings and I think we may have a lead for you to follow." The general spoke with no emotion in his voice.

Pausing for just a split-second, Stop quickly folded the Scroll up and put it in the pocket of his jumper. "Alright, sir. Where am I headed?"

With a nod to Prefect, the superintendent waved his holographic arm in the air as several holographic screen appeared in its wake. "Despite not having much about the cyborg," Ironwood explained, as he walked over to a particular screen that showed the hooded swordsman that attacked the tower disembarking from a freight ship before pulling his cowl over his face. "-Prefect was able to get this footage of the man from the superintendent in Mistral." Placing a hand on the screen and pulling it back, the greying general changed the focus of the holo-screen to that of a map of Mistral. "The ship he boarded took him to a harbour here." Ironwood said, marking a point of the western edge of Mistral with his finger. "From there, he could only have taken one of the three roads that lead to Mistral and its outlying villages." As he said this, red lines that squiggled across the continent of Anima appeared, all leading to roughly the same location.

"Unless, of course, he decided to go off-road." Prefect interjected. "In which case, wherever he went is anyone's guess."

Turning around to face Stop, Ironwood gave him an apologetic look for a moment before continuing. "It's not much to work off from, but if you can find where he left off, you may be able to find a trail that leads you straight to him."

The brunette nodded in understanding as he rubbed his chin in thought. "So going after him is the primary objective – got it."

"While you're there, you should also keep your eyes and ears open for the cyborg; who knows, he may be easier to find than the infiltrator." Ironwood added after a second.

"Hard to find someone who can turn invisible." Prefect said as four more monitors appeared around him, each playing the same pre-recorded surveillance footage. Each of them replayed the scene in a different camera setting, and only two out of the four showed the shimmering figure that could only be the swordsman. "He only appeared on our Aura-signature and thermal cameras. Infra-red and normal don't pick him up at all."

"Got it." Stop said as he adjusted his jumper, and a few of the holo-screens around them blinked out of existence. _Well, at least this means I can calibrate Infinite Stream to detect him._ "I suppose I should head out as soon as possible."

Ironwood responded with a curt nod. "The longer we wait, the colder the lead we have on them will get."

"I've got things to do as well." Prefect croaked out after clearing his throat. "Gotta run a CCT Tower and all that."

Hesitating for just a moment as the silence dragged on, Stop spoke up as he thumbed in the direction of the door. "Does this mean I'm dismissed, sir?"

"Indeed. Dismissed." Ironwood said before giving a crisp salute, which Stop returned out of compulsion before turning to the superintendent and giving a similar salute. Prefect returned the gesture before fading away, which Stop took as his cue to turn around and heading the same way Winter did. "Stop." The general called out of him before he managed to take five steps. Even before the brunette managed to turn around, Ironwood continued speaking. "This mission is a covert operation unsanctioned by the Mistral government. I'd advise you complete your mission as soon as possible and minimise your interaction with anyone; the less people that know, the better."

Stop knew how these ops worked – he knew it would be like this the moment Ironwood referred to him by his codename instead of the usual, "Mr Glass". He may have only been a part of Ironwood's black-ops force for a short amount of time, but the brunette had been performing missions just as deadly long before Ironwood reached the rank of 'general'.

"Of course." However, there was one aspect of these types of missions that varied. "And what should I do if I run into the local authorities?"

This time, Ironwood hesitated before speaking again, his voice never wavering. "I'd prefer to avoid a loss of life, but make no mistake Agent Stop; your rank as a special operative means that you are too valuable to fall to any other Kingdom. By any means necessary, avoid capture."

It wasn't anything new to Stop; for a long time, his existence was kept hidden from the Council and disclosed to only a select few. No doubt, the Council would exploit such a powerful Semblance and attempt to weaponize it. Sure, Atlas may have made him do quite a few bad things, but they were for the good of the world. At least, that's what he's been told for the past sixty years. "Got it." He quickly replied before moving for the exit, already planning his packing list for Mistral. If Stop had picked up anything over the years of service, it was that he should expect a mission like this to go on for much longer than originally planned.

* * *

 **Five Days later…**

It had been easy enough for the group of five to sneak through Mistral to the address that T had sent to Cinder, but the hard part was just getting started.

Assuming it was a trap, then T would have the advantage of fighting on his own turf, with close quarters. Fortunately, Neo was skilled at both close-quarter-combat _and_ reading T's attacks. It was one of the main reasons that Cinder had her take point as they exited the elevator as it stopped on the floor T's apartment supposedly was.

Looking down either walkway took them to an identical apartment building across a sheltered bridge, but they were only here for one of them. The lights that lit the way provided sufficient lighting, and with them, Neo couldn't see any signs of traps or sabotage, only a short walk to a carved wooden door locked by a customised magnetic bolt lock. The light of the pre-dawn sun barely provided any lighting at all for them, but it painted the sky a beautiful indigo.

Looking to Cinder for a brief moment, the ash-haired woman nodded her head, a sign of giving her permission, as she slowly slid her right hand onto the handle of the blade on her back.

With her umbrella in hand, the heterochromatic girl walked up to the lock to get a closer look at it. Placing her hand on it, she got a feel of the mechanism before realised that it would only unlock to a specific Scroll code.

She turned around to face Cinder and the others, and gave them a shake of her head to let them know that she would need a little extra help.

"Looks like we'll need to blast the lock open." Mercury stated as he folded his arms. "Knowing T though, we'll need a breach charge or something to break it."

Before Neo could do anything else, she was pushed out of the way by Raiden. "Step aside, snubs. I've got this one." The black-haired teen said with a confident smirk as he reached into Neo's shadow and pulled out what looked like a compact Scroll made out of shadows.

"How about we avoid causing a scene, Raiden?" Cinder warned as the teen stepped up to the door and placed the shadowy form on the lock.

"Don't worry, this'll only take a few seconds." Raiden said over his shoulder as the mass of shadow began drawing in darkness from around it like a singularity, becoming denser and more solid as the seconds ticked by. "You might want to stand back for this one." He warned as the shadowcaster grabbed the shotgun from his back and brought it forward, aimed straight at the door.

Neo took the warning to heart and opened up her parasol, using it to cover her and the others as she braced for the coming explosion. However, after a second of squeezing her eyes shut with nothing to follow, Neo opened one eye to look at Emerald, who had an equally confused look on her face.

"Hey," she spoke up, poking her head over the cover of the open parasol. "What gives? I thought there was supposed to be-"

Before the mint-green haired girl was able to finish, a blast of darkness hit them with the equal force of a Dust-grenade, albeit the blast residue disappeared almost instantly. Emerald was able to duck back behind the cover of the parasol in time, but the force of the blast still caused Neo to stagger for a split second, before she regained her composure just as Raiden kicked down the door of the apartment, shotgun raised and quickly sweeping the first few rooms of the apartment.

Cinder was the next to follow, drawing her blades from their slings as she began sweeping the apartment in the opposite direction that Raiden went. After sharing a quick glance, Mercury, Neo and Emerald quickly followed in Cinder's wake, splitting up to search the apartment faster. Following Neo's direction, Emerald and Mercury began searching left, the same half of the apartment as Raiden while she went right, following Cinder.

However, after they split up, Neo instantly wished that she had decided to go with the black-haired shadowcaster.

The heterochromatic girl's heels clicked on the marble-tile floor as she rounded the corner of the apartment, but as her eyes scanned the room, her breath caught in her throat in a noiseless gasp.

With her back facing Neo, the ash-haired woman rested her weight on a table covered in papers and keyboards, facing a mess of monitors all connected to each other to display the same message.

"TOO_SLOW"

At this point, Neo knew that Cinder was a ticking time-bomb that just needed the right amount of annoyance to set her off, so she knew that it was best to stay back until Cinder _wanted_ her to approach.

A few seconds passed and the others returned to the centre of the room, their expressions and body language told them that they had found nothing of great significance. Raiden even looked like he was about to say something snarky for a moment, but stopped when Neo gave him a hesitant shake of the head while sliding a finger across her throat.

Suddenly, the sound of glass heels clicking against the floor caused Neo to swallow sharply as she felt Cinder's gaze on her. "What are you just standing around for?" slowly turning back to face the woman, Neo felt some manner of relief as she realised that Cinder was referring to all of them, even though she couldn't see the others from around the corner. "Look for anything that might lead us to them."

The others didn't need any further prompt as they carefully – but hastily – made their way to the other side of the apartment, as far away as they could from Cinder. Neo doubted they would find anything; if she knew one thing about T, it was that if the apartment wasn't cluttered with his things, then he wasn't going to come back here.

 _Then where could he be…?_

"Neo, see if you can get anything from his hardware." The girl suddenly snapped back to look at Cinder as she spoke while slowly walking by her without so much as a gesture of acknowledgement that she existed. "This door back here is locked, which means that there's probably something he wants to hide."

Sparing one glance at the woman as she placed a hand on the digital lock that held the door shut, Neo didn't look back as she made her way over to the clutter of T's handywork.

Everything about it looked so typically…T. Even though a lot of the wiring was bare and it was a monster made from different pieces of equipment that were never meant to work together, T somehow made it work, and made the whole thing better than the sum of its parts.

Tapping some command keys she knew on the different keyboards, Neo quickly assessed that the hardware was fried, as all it showed was the same message surrounded by static.

 _This doesn't make sense._ She began thinking in her head while shifting through the paper he left lying on the table. _He always does something with a purpose, so what was the purpose of calling us out?_

As Neo began sliding the papers that she didn't need onto the floor, she noticed something when she lifted up one of the keyboards to pull out a piece of paper. Stuck on the underside of the keyboard was a laminated photograph stuck to the keyboard by bits of tape. Neo suddenly felt that her chest was a lot heavier than normal as she reached for the photo, recognising immediately what it was. Carefully pulling it off, Neo needed to take a moment as she stared into the photograph. _I didn't know he still had this…_

In the warm light of the apartment, the heterochromatic girl could clearly see what was on the photo; it was of T and her. She had one arm wrapped around his waist and he had an arm slung over her shoulder. Standing forty centimetres taller than her, the height difference was almost funny with how one could see that T had slouched slightly lower to fit into the picture better – but only if you were actually looking out for it. They both kept their usual look on, but in the photo, they were much younger and T had his face scarf pulled down, which revealed the most surprising part of the photo; he was smiling – they both were. It had been a while since they had both been as equally happy as that day.

 _It's got to be, what? Four years since then?_

Turning the photo over, Neo saw the message she had scrawled on the back of it all those years ago for T, and it made her feel…weird on the inside as she read it out in her head.

" _We'll always be on the same team."_

As she got to the end of it though, she noticed something new. It looked to be an address somewhere in Mistral, and it was written in T's handwriting. Most importantly, it looked new.

"Congratulations, Neo." Cinder's icy voice suddenly spoke over her shoulder. It was enough to make her seize up, while she focussed every ounce of her concentration on not jumping in surprise. "I think you've just found our lead." She said before taking the photo from Neo's frozen hands.

Cinder looked it over once before speaking loud enough for everyone in the apartment to hear. "T is calling us out. Therefore, I say if it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get."

It was then that Raiden sauntered around the corner with his shotgun-longsword resting on his shoulder. "You know where he is, then?"

Crumpling the photo in her hand, she gave the shadowcaster a devious smirk before replying. "I believe he's arranged a meeting place for us." As she said this, her fist glowed a dim orange for a few seconds before ash started to seep out from between her fingertips.

On the inside, Neo was a mess of feelings, though she did well not to let it show on her face as the ash-haired woman opened her hand, letting the rest of the ashes fall to the floor.

"Well, come on then." Raiden said as he made room for Cinder to walk. "I wouldn't want to miss your ass-kicking."

They both walked away, leaving Neo behind as she became lost in thought for a few seconds. She believed in the popular Mistrali belief that photos and portraits were the tangible form of memories from the past, but now all that was left of that one memory of her and T was a pile of ash.


	21. Chapter 16

**A/N: I didn't actually have a plan on when to release this chapter, but since it's Christmas, I thought I might as well put this one out - just to let you know I'm still alive. I should be working on this story more, but I recently got invested in another story-writing venture and am still debating whether or not to put it up. Enjoy, and expect the next chapter soon.**

 **Also, just a friendly note that OC submissions are still appreciated, and even if you don't submit one, be ready for heavy OC plot in the future, and for not-so subtle references.**

Into The Ring

 **Present Day…**

The surveillance video continued to follow Cinder and the rest of her team until they left the apartment, which then paused on the last second of the video before clicking off. For a few moments, everyone was considering this new piece of information that T had never divulged before, until it was Tanner who eventually spoke up.

"You had the whole damn apartment bugged?" he asked T accusingly.

"No, I simply reprogrammed the security system in the apartment to transmit its data archives and live recordings to me – as well as the guards in charge of the apartment." T stated, twirling the damaged frame of his Scroll in his fingers. "The camera's in my apartment block were the only ones I had to set up myself."

"It's really not that surprising, coming from T." SK shot back at both Tanner and the hacker, folding his arms as he leaned back into his seat.

"Well, at least we know what this thing is now." Jay stated from across the oval table, picking up SK's bracer and holding it in the air so that the light from the holo-screen behind them made the large melted dent on its surface clearly visible. The boy then put it back on the table and slid it across the glass top of the table back to SK, within arm's reach. "One question though; what did you hope to gain out of leading Cinder on like this?"

T took a brief pause as his line of sight flickered in between Qrow and the blonde sitting across from them. "Frustration. I had control over where and when we would fight. The idea was to make Cinder chase ghosts and run in circles only to find nothing. I ran the calculations," his words were directed towards Qrow this time. "-a clear mind plays a larger part in winning a fight than you'd normally think. By making Fall frustrated and giving her no breaks in between our offensives, I calculated that her chances of slipping up increased significantly." Pausing, T raised a hand to rub his good shoulder. "I just wasn't able to calculate the side-effects of an angry Cinder."

"And we all saw how that turned out." The orange-eyed teen stated with a single bark of laughter, followed by a dense silence as he realised that this was the type of interrogation he was going through. "Ok, the city's on fire, everyone's on edge, no time for jokes." He muttered to himself.

"It'd be a lot funnier if you'd actually tell us what happened, instead of giving us off-handed comments like that." Qrow said in reply, which surprised Tanner because he didn't mean to be heard.

"In a moment, Qrow; first, I would like to inquire about this…Raiden Alexander." Glynda inquired as she knitted her fingers together and rested her chin on top of them.

Picking up the damaged bracer, SK spoke while keeping his eyes on the piece of armour. "I doubt you know nothing about him." He said as he ran his fingers over its surface. "Vale Intelligence has got to have records of a man like him."

"They do." Qrow replied curtly. "We just want to know what you know about him – that's how this arrangement works."

"Well the short version is that he's an asshole." Tanner stated, nonchalant like it was the most obvious fact in the world.

"But ya'll don't have to worry 'bout him no more." Mason said as he propped his feet up on the table and let out a sigh of relief. "We showed that noob what-up and put him in his place."

"If you don't take your feet down off the table in the next five seconds I'm going to put _you_ in your place." Jay hissed through gritted teeth with a glare.

The redhead then swung his feet off the table and leaned across it as far as he could, a hand on either side of his body. "Try me, bitch." He whispered threateningly.

Jay looked like he was about to actually take up that offer, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder from Glynda before he could rise out of his seat. The two shared eye-contact for a second before the blonde let out a sigh of frustration and leaned back into his chair. "So what's the long version of his story?"

Tanner's eyes turned to T, who was already typing away at his Scroll before he placed it against the glass table, causing several zigzagging lines of light to appear and stretch to the holo-screen, causing it to flicker for a moment before changing to a profile of the Shadowcaster.

"Raiden Alexander, age seventeen. Dropped out of the Sanctum Academy during his second year at the age of fifteen because he felt that they were 'holding him back'." T explained in a neutral tone of voice. "He's been living as a mercenary for hire since then. His Semblance is a form of umbra-kinesis that allows him to manipulate shadows into everyday objects."

As T finished that sentence, Qrow held up a hand to signal for him to stop. "We already know all this. We want to know what _you_ know about him." He stressed the word for emphasis.

At first, Tanner didn't understand what the old reaper meant by that, but it clicked to him after a momentary silence. _They want a fucking review of his fighting skills._

"…He's very quick on his feet and adaptable with his fighting style." The brunette said with a sigh. "Generally used his Semblance to form physical weapons instead of using it abstractly." the more Tanner spoke though, the more sense it made why they would ask about Raiden's performance on the field; they were teachers, first and foremost.

SK was the next to catch on, following up his explanation. "Might be because of a lack of imagination, might also be because the Semblance put a lot of strain on him. The whole time we fought, h-he carried himself with a lot of…confidence."

"That's one way to put it." Tanner said as he propped his head up on one hand against the table.

"Anything we're missing out on, T? Mason?" the black-haired rogue asked, ignoring Tanner's remark.

Shifting in his seat, the orange-eyed boy was caught off guard as Mason spoke next. "He's not worried about wasting ammunition, fires a lot without aiming. 'Course, once he runs out of ammo, he's got to fall back on his Semblance, which puts a strain on his Aura."

There was a brief pause amongst the members of the strike team before SK spoke up. "Mason, that's probably the most intelligent thing you've said all month." His tone carried across how equally stunned he was at the berserker's ability to put together a sentence that made sense.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it, scrubs." The redhead said while running his fingers through his afro.

Tanner then turned his attention back to T. "T, anything you want to add?"

Instead of responding, the hacker picked his Scroll back up and began typing away at it. As he finished, he placed it back on the table with a, "Why don't I just show you?"

* * *

 **Back Then…**

It was a light techno beat which gradually got louder that roused T from his slumber. His heavy eyelids opened slowly to look out the front window of his modified Bullhead to see it slowly descending in between a mountain range.

The hacker wasn't too sure when his flashback had ended and dreamless sleep took over, but he knew it wouldn't be the last he saw of those memories. They came back to him now and then, but they recently became ten times as vivid with the installation of one of his newest neural implants – giving him the ability to record and playback instances with his cybernetic eye. One thing he had not accounted for when he had it drilled into his brain was the possible side-effects that came with it.

"Ah, good. You're up." Overwatch's neutral voice spoke in his ear. It was still funny how the hacker used to jump at the sound of her voice all those weeks ago. Before Overwatch, he had little use of the sub-dermal communicator he had surgically implanted along with the rest of his modifications, but now…

Now it was almost like it was too noisy.

"How far are we from the waypoint?" he asked Overwatch, keeping his voice low as he got up out of his pilot's seat to peer into the passenger compartment. Sure enough, the rest of his team were trying to find ways to keep busy. Tanner and SK seemed to be talking about their weapons and fighting technique, while Mason swung his head back and forth to some tuneless heavy metal blaring from his headphones. Even without having to use his cybernetic enhancements, he could still hear the music reverberating out of the Faunus' headphones from across the airship. None of them seemed to notice him, however, which worked to T's advantage as he really didn't want any more questions until after they had landed.

"We are making out descent for landing now. And, assuming no one else is home, we shouldn't encounter any other airships this far away from the main Kingdom." Overwatch continued as T got back into his seat and deactivated the auto-pilot. He turned to Dimples briefly as the dog gave him a low whine of concern. In response, T quickly ruffled the dog's fur before placing his hands back on the flight controls.

Deciding to take care of the landing process himself, T also considered the best way to let the rest of his team know they were approaching their destination. They had been through a lot, so the last thing they needed was something that could set them off. "Overwatch, do me a favour and put Everlong on the loudspeakers inside the ship – full volume."

As he made a hard right just before a mountaintop, Overwatch confirmed his command with a quick, "At once, sir. Now playing, 'Everlong' by the Food Fighters." Before the loud bass suddenly caused the walls of the airship to vibrate along with the surprised shouts of his teammates.

With both hands over his ears, Tanner scrambled to the cockpit before fixing T with an angry glare. "T! What the hell?" he shouted over the bass of the music.

"We're approaching the compound." T stated casually as he made Overwatch dip down slightly.

"What?!" Tanner shouted right into his ear, which was being protected from both the heavy bass and the Atlesian's annoying voice by his earpiece.

"I said," as the brunette spoke, his left hand moved from the flight controls of the Bullhead to pull up a holographic display that had multiple bars pulsing to the beat of the music. With two fingers, T slid them along the display, causing the volume of the music to decrease. "We're approaching the compound. Get ready."

"You couldn't have thought of another way to alert us about this?" Tanner continued shouting even though the volume had lowered to a suitable level. However, T did not respond to the question, feeling that it was just a trivial thing and that his attention was better suited on piloting the airship.

Eventually, Tanner turned around while making a loud, annoyed sound, and T was left alone in the cockpit…for about three seconds.

"Hate to break it to you," SK began as he poked his head into the cockpit. "-but I think the marauder back there's still in his own world."

Giving him a squinted look for a second, T got out of his seat to take a look at what SK meant. The rogue made room for him as he peered around the edge of the dividing wall that separated the cockpit from the passenger's compartment. Looking to where the redhead last was, the hacker found that Mason was still exactly where he had last been, metal music still blaring.

"He mustn't have heard you." SK commented as he leaned against the wall next to T.

T took a moment to consider his options before shrugging and taking his seat once more. "Let him be, he'll cause less trouble that way." After saying this, T reached forward across the co-pilot's seat to undo the safety belts that secured Dimples, allowing the dog to get out of the chair he had been sitting in for the past few minutes and roam about the passenger compartment of the airship.

After a second, the rogue took his place in the co-pilot seat next to him. "Do y-you mind?"

The hacker gave no reply as he turned the Bullhead into a loop around a hill to face a flat crag along the mountainside, with a dirt path that led down the mountain, but disappeared into low-hanging mist. On it, a single house stood, silent and ominous in the light of the early morning.

"Is this the place?" SK asked as T took the airship in low for a hover over a clear spot on the crag. Dust and dirt scattered as the engines blew hot air into the ground in order to slow their descent, before T eventually killed the engines and allowed the cloud of dust to settle around them.

"Welcome to the compound." T muttered as he got out of his seat, followed closely behind by SK. Pressing a hand to a button on the side of the hull, the doors of the airship shuddered for a moment before opening three-quarters of the way. _Ship still needs some work to perform at maximum efficiency._

With a gesture of his hand, SK and Tanner got the message and got off the airship, beaten only by the hacker's enthusiastic shepherd dog. "Unload your things and wait for me before approaching the compound." He explained before walking over to Mason. Without touching the berserker, T whipped out his Scroll and began remotely connecting to the Scroll Mason was using to play his music.

At first, he considered turning the volume even higher, but reconsidered when he got a better idea. Searching through the list of songs available on Remnant's network, he specifically selected a song from a child's television show about friendship and kindness.

He swirled his finger around the button to play that specific song for a second before tapping on it, and watching the look of confusion that appeared on the redhead turn into one of pain and anguish as he clasped his hands over his ears and screamed in pain.

"Make it stop!" he wailed as he rolled back and forth on the deck of the airship.

Complying with his request, T lowered the volume of the song to near-zero and stood still as Mason slowly and shakily rose to his feet.

"What the hell, mate?" the redhead shouted angrily at directly at T's face.

"We're here." T simply stated. "Off."

"Yeah, yeah. You don't have to tell me twice." Mason grumbled while rubbing his ears, picking up his stuff and hopping off the Bullhead.

"I already did." T mumbled to himself as he followed right behind the berserker, being sure to close the hatch to the airship behind him. "Overwatch, remain in sentry mode and run a quick diagnostic on the systems – I want this airship combat-ready in an hour." He said as he pressed a finger to the earpiece he was wearing.

"Affirmative, Captain Ástarsorg." Overwatch replied as T rounded the airship to gaze out into the scenery that the crag overlooked.

The crag they currently rested on was near the top of a hill. Like the many other hills that surrounded it in this one mountainous part of Mistral, it didn't have a name, though T often thought of it as home. The morning mist was just beginning to settle among the various flora-covered hills, making the green of their trees appear orange, red and bright purple. If T were to walk over to the edge of the crag, he wouldn't be able to see the uneven terrain below through the dense mist. Instead, the cyborg just took a moment to relax for the first time in the last couple hours, staring into the horizon where mist met the rising sun, and painted the sky gold and pink.

Not many other houses dotted this part of Mistral, as even though it was prime property for its view, it was still quite far away from the major city and lacked the protection it offered. Still, it was part of Mistral's conquered territory, and there were sweeps of the area once a month, but it did little to provide protection for the people that lived here, meaning that they'd have to fend for themselves.

Taking in the morning mountain air, T relaxed his shoulders, even though the motion gave him phantom pains in his right shoulder. It was part of his breathing exercises, and served to relax him more than it did cause him pain. No more than two seconds passed before a gentle nudge in his knee brought him out of his momentary serenity. Looking down, T saw that Dimples had rejoined his side, looking at him for a direction of what to do next.

"Go." T said in a gentle voice. "Get ready. We'll be moving out in a few hours." the dog gave several heavy breaths in response before running off to the airship, disappearing behind one of its engines.

After the quick moment to himself, T turned away from the view and made his way to the house.

The house looked like nothing more than a simple cabin on the outside, primarily made of wood, with the only odd thing about it being the three-metre tall signal tower standing next to it. However, like most of T's things, there was always more to it than its outward appearance portrayed.

The rest of his team was standing a good five metres away from the house, all eyes on him and expecting him to give them the signal that it was alright for them to enter. _Good thing they stopped too, they would've set off the proximity mines._

Taking his Scroll out of his pocket, T quickly opened up one of his custom-made applications and disabled the proximity mines temporarily, ushering the others to follow him to the front of the house as he grabbed a couple of his more important bags.

It was a short walk to the front porch of the house, which led to what seemed to be a normal door, but was actually…well, it actually was a normal door. It just also happened to be lined with explosives inside the wall of the building and had an electronic magnetic deadlock instead of a normal handle.

All it took for T to unlock the door was to place his Scroll against its scanner, and the light on it changed from red to green. With a twist of the metal handle, T pushed himself in first before holding the door open for the others, who, except for Mason, reluctantly stepped into the building.

Upon entering the building, the team was met by a room which branched off in three different directions. One path led up a flight of stairs to the floor above, while the other two were openings on the right and left that led into separate rooms.

"Leave your things in the room on the right." T ordered as he turned to walk into the room on the left. "Do not go upstairs or into the basement – anywhere else in the compound is permitted."

The room on the left hadn't been much before T had claimed it years ago, but now it was his personal study. An entire windowless wall had been lined with hard-drives and backup generators, while half of an entire wall was taken up by holo-screens and computer monitors.

It was a lot like the one he had set up in the apartment, except much better assembled and with nearly four times the processing power. Of course, he only had a couple months to throw together the one in the apartment. This one…he's had years to perfect this one.

Discarding his bags carelessly off to one side, T quickly plugged his Scroll into the port connected to his supercomputer. They didn't have much time before their window of opportunity to strike at Cinder came, and he needed to be sure that his plans were as close to flawless as possible.

Meanwhile, the others dropped off their stuff in what looked to be a living room, outfitted with a holo-screen television, a wide couch that looked like it could fit three people, two personal armchairs, a couple lamps, a coffee table, and a few other things that made this room feel quite cosy.

With a sigh, Tanner flopped backwards onto the couch next to his duffel-bag. "I need a break." He mumbled as he began rummaging through the contents of his bag.

"I hope we get rooms." SK remarked as he took a moment to stare at one of the paintings that hung on the walls. It was a landscape portrait, but it didn't look like it was of Vacuo or Mistral. Instead, the distinct red trees reminded him of a place travellers talked about from Vale, where the trees were always in autumn and the sap was considered a delicacy. "Because if we don't get our own rooms, I'm happy to sleep on the roof."

"Well, you guys do that." Mason spoke while clapping his hands together. "I'm going to go do some online shopping." Tossing his bags to one side, the redhead pulled out his Scroll and began trying to get a good Scroll signal.

"Yeah, whatever." The rogue breathed out as he walked over to the opposite end of the room, where a doorway led to a kitchen. "I'm going to have a look around." He muttered to himself before disappearing around the corner.

"Yo, T!" Mason hollered as he fell into one of the single-person chairs in the living room. "What's the password for your Scroll thingy?"

A moment passed in silence before T responded, calling back down the hallway. "I just gave you access. Try again."

As the berserker took a moment to refresh his connection status, Tanner suddenly rose from his seat on the couch, tossing his open bag aside as he angrily marched into T's study.

"Where's my other bag?" the brunette asked with a hint of anger in his tone to T, who had his back turned to the swordsman, crouching down to tinker with one of the hard drives.

"What other bag?" T asked, unintentionally vexing the brunette.

With a rough hand, the swordsman grabbed T by the shoulder and spun him around while forcing him to stand. "Look, I remember grabbing four bags when we left. Four. Now, there's only three."

"Really should have asked that _before_ we left." T replied calmly.

Tanner's hand snapped back to his side as he put the best snarl he could. "I had a stack of sweet magazines in that bag!"

"We don't have time to waste – _I_ don't have time to waste carrying around your extra luggage." The hacker snapped back.

"I had an important book on Glyphs in that bag!" Tanner snapped back. "I was going to use those for the fight!"

"I don't remember ever seeing you use Glyphs before."

"Well…that's because I'm learning." The brunette defended, taking a step back with his tone of voice. "I _can_ use them, I'm just not naturally born with it like the Schnees. From what I can tell though, they would've come in handy for the fight if you hadn't thrown away my book!" his voice slowly rose in tempo and volume as he spoke.

Pausing for a moment, T followed up Tanner's defence with a hand on his shoulder. "Stick with what you know – it's safer that way. We cannot afford a single slip-up when we go against Cinder – experimental Glyphs included." Taking a few steps back towards his supercomputer, he placed a hand on the holographic keyboard and caused several tabs and windows to open up on his monitors. "Besides, I'll get you another one." Pointing to one of the holo-screens, T drew the brunette's attention to a hardcover copy of 'Advanced Glyph Use and Other Spells'. "This good enough for you?"

Tanner took a moment to read the details and summary of the book that appeared on an adjacent holo-screen before glaring at T. "This doesn't change things."

The hacker never broke eye-contact with the swordsman as his fingers flew across the keyboard to place the order for the book. "It's already been bought. I'll tell you where to find it after the fight."

Taking a step back to put some distance between himself and T, Tanner turned around for a moment to return his face to a neutral expression before turning back to face T. "When is this big fight anyway?"

"Roughly four hours from now." T responded as he turned around to get back to work.

"Four hours?" a voice asked out of nowhere. While Tanner searched around frantically for where the voice came from, the hacker calmly turned his head in the direction SK reappeared in. "You're telling us now that we're going to have to go up against Cinder in four hours?" the rogue practically shouted. "That's…that's…actually, that's quite a while away." His voice slowly grew quieter as his brain thought of how much time four whole hours gave them.

"There's still a lot to take into consideration before we go." T stated as he removed his Scroll from the port attached to his computer. With a few quick taps, the hacker activated a set of holographic projectors that were stuck to the ceiling of the study. Together, they created several flat screens of light between himself, the rogue and the swordsman. "Cinder picked up a new ally yesterday that'll be joining her for the fight: a man named Raiden Alexander." As he said this, a quick profile of the aforementioned man appeared, as well as several pictures and surveillance camera shots of him. There was even a video of him that played in the corner of the light screen, which showed the man fighting off a group of armed thugs with only his hands. "The man can manipulate shadows into just about anything he can think of, so we'll need to pack ammunition that'll produce light in order to minimise the amount of shadow he'll be able to work with."

"Do we know the extent of his power?" Tanner asked as he began studying the profile before him. T only replied with the shake of his head as he pulled up several more pictures of the man's Semblance in use, drawing whips and swords from his own shadow.

"Wait…four hours from now is roughly mid-day…" SK thought out loud before directing his voice to T. "That's…pretty clever, actually. With the noon sun right over us, the shadows won't be too long."

"Yeah, so long as there are no clouds in the sky." Tanner remarked with a snort.

"Not even I can predict the weather." T added as an off-handed statement. "In the meantime, follow me." He demanded right after tapping a single button on his holographic keypad and causing all the monitors to show segments of a single screensaver, displaying the image of an orange and black fox made out of triangles and geometrical lines.

Following the hacker, the group made their way back to the central room where he gestured for Mason to follow them back out the front door. As they exited the house, T led them around its side to a hatch in the ground.

With the swipe of his Scroll, the magnetic lock holding the doors shut opened – as indicated by the change in light colour from red to green. Grabbing the handles of the door, T threw the hatch open before descending down a set of wooden steps.

Even without his enhanced vision, T could have navigated the basement in complete darkness. Unfortunately, the others couldn't, which was why he flipped the circuit breaker upon entry, causing a set of overhead panel-lights to flicker to life with a stark-white light, revealing what the hacker considered the third most important stockpile in the house.

Before the group were three alleys, created by four shelves loaded with weapons and ammunition. Every inch of the surrounding walls, in fact, were lined with munitions that T could recite from memory – every single pinch of Dust. The walls of the basement were reinforced with a strong metal alloy that seemed to have been recently polished with the way it reflected the light, while the floor seemed to be made of carved granite.

"Holy shit." Tanner exclaimed out loud as he moved to inspect the pipelines that T had remodelled to work as Dust dispensaries. "How much Dust do you have in this place?"

"Close to seventeen tonnes." T stated, nonchalant as ever. The hacker didn't even have to turn around to see the brunette's jaw go slack. "I've had years to build up the supply." He explained without giving the others and their expressions of surprise much regard.

"This is enough firepower to last me a lifetime." SK muttered to himself as he ran a hand along an Atlesian-issued sub-machine gun.

"I bet I could blow all this in about…seven days – minimum." Mason said in challenge. "Heck, I could blow this is seven minutes if that's the challenge here."

"No one's challenging anyone to a Dust usage contest." Tanner raised his voice, trying to be the middle-man here. "Besides, I could burn all this in seven seconds if that was the case."

"We need everything we can get his hands on for the duration of our campaign against Fall and her allies." T cut in, opening a bulletproof crate with his boot before reaching in to grab a vial of blue Dust. "Cinder has more friends than I initially thought. Not to mention, we're probably being hunted by the Mistrali government as well – which means Dust will be harder to acquire, legally."

Gesturing with one hand to a rack loaded with weapons from all over Remnant, SK asked, "What are these for?"

T paused for a moment as he reached into a nearby box to pull out a yellow Dust crystal and toss it to Tanner. "Emergencies."

"What's in the other room?" The brunette asked as he twirled the crystal in his left hand while pointing to the door on the other side of the room with his right hand. The door in question was a sliding door made of a metal frame with a mirror as its base.

"That room is off-limits." T stated as he walked in front of Tanner, blocking his direct line of sight of the door. "Anyone that tries to enter will be shocked with sixty-thousand volts of electricity."

The redhead let out a snort, followed by a quick chuckle. "You must have something big to protect it behind a lethal dose of zappy-zap."

"You have no idea." T muttered to himself, turning away from the others to grab a couple clips of Dust rounds that he shoved into his pockets before turning back around. "Let's finish the tour of the rest of the house so we can begin planning the attack."

"Wait," Tanner quickly stopped him before he could begin his ascent up the flight of stairs. "-I thought you said we aren't allowed in the basement, so why show us what's down here."

"You're not allowed here without my permission." The hacker clarified. "And supervision. If you even try to break in here without my permission, you will also get hit with sixty-thousand volts of electricity." T threatened with a hiss at the end. "Now come on. I need to show you where you'll be sleeping."

* * *

 **Four Hours Later…**

Standing atop a hill, Cinder surveyed the location she had arrived at, according to the address that T had written down on the back of the photograph he had clearly left for Neo.

In order to not draw attention to her strike team or herself, Cinder had forced the others to trek all the way here. No one complained about the order, initially. However, Raiden had been constantly complaining for the last hour or so about his legs, while trying to engage everyone in pointless small-talk.

Because of this, she had given them a moment to rest as she tried to discern whether T was already here or not.

It was difficult to tell, to say the least. The address that the boy had scratched down had led her to the outskirts of Mistral, to a bit of flatland where a lone barn made of metal still stood next to a broken windmill.

When she had asked Neo, the girl had claimed to have never came here before or hear mention of it from T. It wasn't that Cinder didn't believe her – the cyborg was notorious for his secrets. No, it was the question of why T had led them here that confused Cinder. Clearly, it was an attempt to draw them away from the main Kingdom, but what made this place so special. She held a hand over her eyes to shield her vision from the noon-day glare of the sun, but still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary or overly 'T-like'.

Turning around to where Raiden was sitting on the grass, playing with his shadows, Cinder rested her hands on her hips as she looked to the others, who had also taken this moment to recover some of their energy. "Let's go."

With a groan of annoyance, the black-haired teen was the first on his feet. "Please tell me he's here so I can kill him already."

"With any luck, he will be." Cinder mumbled as she began walking down the side of the hill, heading in the direction of the barn's open front door.

As she approached, the ash-haired woman reached for the hilts of her bow-blades drawing one as she stopped at the building's entrance.

Nothing about this barn looked new – or in the least bit modified. Rust, broken windows and mildew were all clear signs of wear and age. If it weren't for the bright-red patches of paint that still clung to the walls of the building, she would have thought that the barn was supposed to be a rust-red colour.

"After you." Cinder offered in a polite voice, gesturing to the entrance as she turned to Raiden.

"Oh, why thank you. Don't mind if I do." Raiden replied sarcastically as he drew his longsword and began walking into the darkness of the building. With a tilt of the head, Cinder indicated for the others to follow before she brought up the rear.

Hesitantly, the others complied, with Neo going first while Emerald and Mercury walked side-by-side. Though there were no lights inside the barn, the light of the noon filtered in through the broken windows along the walls of the building, blocked only by several beams of wood that supported the upper floor and roof.

Other than that, the building was completely empty.

Or so they thought.

Cinder had just reached the centre of the building with the rest of her team when a high-pitched screech of static pierced the air, causing everyone in the room to cover their ears until it passed.

"What was that?" Raiden yelled at no one in particular, having a hard time hearing his own voice over the ringing in his ears.

It was then that a familiar voice filled the air. "Good, you've arrived on time." T's voice echoed through the empty space of the warehouse.

"T, always hiding in the dark." Cinder taunted. "Well, at least you know your place."

Out of her peripheral vision, the ash-haired woman saw Raiden lean closer to her. In response, Cinder leaned in closer to hear what the shadowcaster had to say. "He's not here. I can't feel his shadow – or anyone else's. Just ours."

"I'm not hiding." Just as T said that, the doors to the barn slid close. "I know better than to lock myself in a building with you."

"Yeah, how long do you think it'll take for us to break out of here?" Mercury asked, rhetorically.

"This barn isn't meant to trap you, it's meant to make you hold still long enough for the tactical missile to hit you."

It only took a split second for Cinder to realise what was happening, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked around to see that her companions had similar expressions.

"I'll be sure to dig you out of the rubble if you survive, so I can put a bullet in your head an end you once and for all." T stated before another screech of static indicated that whatever speaker T had been using was now off. The screeching sound passed after a second before it was replaced with the sound of a combustion engine at full power, slowly getting louder.

"We need to get out of here!" Emerald shouted frantically.

"No!" Raiden snapped back at her. "Quick, everyone, back to back!" the black-haired man ordered as everyone gathered in the centre of the barn. "Cinder, for once in your life, I need you to trust me."

"And if I don't?" Cinder asked as she held her swords in front of her defensively.

The roar of the incoming missile was now clear and filled the air around them, even though they couldn't see where it was coming from. "Then this is going to hurt, a lot."


	22. Chapter 17

**A Special Message: This is the last time I will write up a note for the chapters I will definitely post on the day of Monty's death, but it is not for lack of things to say. It's because I (and possibly some people reading this) need to let go of Monty.**

 **For a long time, back in 2014, all I could do was hope that someday; Monty would give me the chance to let him read some of my stories – what he inspired me to do. Well, first I would hope that he didn't take any offense by it, and then I would hope that he would at least give me more than 3 sentences worth of criticism. But now? Now it can never happen, because he's gone.**

 **He's gone and there's no way for me to know whether this amazing guy will ever know me as more than a number figure in the view count. Sometimes, when I still think about it, it makes me feel…sad, but it's slowly turning more and more into happy memories whenever I think about him nowadays, which is a good thing.**

 **Now, after three years of knowing him, in honour of Monty, I think it's time for me to move forward – past his death – and stop thinking of his death as a tragedy. And maybe, letting go is what he wants. Maybe by letting go, we can finally give him peace.**

 **It's time to move on with my own story. Goodbye, Monty. I'll see you when I see you.**

Men Who Fight

 **Same time…**

With a gentle tug on the steering system of the Bullhead, T brought his airship around for the second time as he waited patiently for the smoke of the burning barn to settle. The missile had met its mark in a matter of seconds, obliterating the small barn and only leaving a burning husk of its former, former glory.

However, T had long suspected that it would take a lot more than a single missile to finish off Cinder – let alone Cinder _and_ her companions.

Taking a quick peek into the passenger compartment of the airship, he found that the rest of his team was leaning out of the open hatch of the ship, craning their necks to get a better look of the spectacle.

"Well," Tanner had to yell to be heard over the sound of the airship's engines. "That was a lot less exciting that I thought this was going to go."

"It's not over just yet." T spoke into the communicator in his ear so that he didn't have to yell.

"Hey, T!" Mason shouted from his position, leaning his whole body out of the airship with only one arm to hold him and prevent the berserker from falling out of the Bullhead. "When can I get my hands on one of those missiles you're packing?"

The hacker didn't bother to dignify the question with a response as he was about to perform another circle around the target zone when he spotted something in the middle of the wreckage.

* * *

"Holy hell." Tanner muttered to himself as he took in what he saw. In what he considered to be the centre of the now non-existent barn was a dome-shaped field made of a swirling mixture of shadow energy and some form of marigold-coloured Aura.

Within the dome, the brunette saw that Cinder, Raiden and a few other people that he couldn't see clearly through the shield were completely unharmed by the missile.

"Looks like they're doing just fine." SK stated with a snort.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Tanner said sarcastically over the roar of the engines before turning his attention back to T. "You guys were right about Cinder bringing backup." the swordsman was quite surprised to find that the hacker was no longer in the cockpit, but was now standing a few steps away from them, checking over his sidearm. "So what's the plan?"

"When we get close enough to the ground, jump." He said while cocking his pistol, ignoring the brunette's question. "Overwatch will send the ship back around for us if we need to escape."

"No need." SK shouted over the engines as the Bullhead suddenly dipped down. "I'm finishing this today." With that, the rogue disappeared before anyone else could say anything.

"Hey!" Tanner shouted as he began reaching around for the black-haired teen, but stopped when T grabbed his hand.

"Let him go." The hacker said calmly as he bent his knees, getting ready to jump off the airship. "At least this way Cinder won't be expecting him."

The swordsman let out a huff of air as he got ready to jump off the Bullhead, now levelling out with the ground. "Mars, you with us?" he asked the berserker at his side.

The burly man drew forth his weapons as a wide, evil grin spread across his face. "Oh, yeah. Time to cut down some haters."

With that said, T suddenly pat Tanner on the back, giving him the signal to disembark the airship. As he leapt, he found that T was right by his side as Mason brought up the rear. Landing with a soft thud on the grass, he quickly got into a defensive position as he watched the smouldering barn.

They were roughly ten metres away from it, and stood on even ground with the ruined building. As he drew his sabre and pistol in either hand, Tanner looked up briefly to see the airship soar across the sky and into the horizon, far from the fight.

Looking to his left and right, the other members of his team also had their weapons drawn, and were now staring into the destroyed barn, waiting with heightened anxiety for someone to step out of it.

Cinder was the first to emerge from the rubble as a flash of black and red, lifting her legs high over the broken pieces of rubble as to not get her dress caught in it. Though this had been the first time he had actually seen her in nearly a month, Tanner still felt a sense of dread when she glared at him from such a distance. The same dread he had felt when he had tried to strike up a conversation with her, which resulted in a threat on his life from the ash-haired woman.

Next to emerge at her side was the man he had recently come to know as Raiden Alexander, brushing pieces of rubble off his coat as he went with a long-sword in his hand. Behind him was a familiar face that surprised Tanner, as when they made eye-contact, they both momentarily froze with the realization that they were on opposite sides for once. After their brief moment of eye-contact, Tanner tried to focus on anything other than the mint-haired girl. The opportunity came when a petite girl with pink and brown hair stepped out alongside a boy with grey hair. There was something oddly familiar about the both of them, though the brunette couldn't quite figure out what it was. From what SK had told him earlier, he at least knew their names were Neo and Mercury, respectively.

They all stopped about eight metres away from them as Cinder began flexing her fingers while her glare gradually turned into a confident smirk. "Well, isn't this a surprise." She said in her venomously slick voice. "Three dead men, all gathered for one last time before I put them in their graves."

The light of the high-hanging sun reflected off the blade of Beofield and into Tanner's eye for a moment before he turned the blade so it no longer irritated him. "I can assure you I'm far from dead." Tanner spoke first, earning a glare from T as he had given him specific instructions not to speak until T spoke first.

 _Sorry, couldn't help myself._ The swordsman thought as Cinder gave him the tilt of a head.

"Oh, but you are dead, Tanner Vermillion. You died weeks ago in a White Fang encampment – I'm just here to put you in your grave." Her voice was laced with the promise of carrying out those words as Tanner unconsciously took a step backwards. He immediately sighed as he realised his mistake; showing Cinder that she was getting to him.

"How about you come here and do it then?" T spoke up, challenging Cinder as he spread his arms apart.

A sudden groan drew everyone's attention to the redheaded berserker as he groaned loudly and tilted his head to the sky. "Are we seriously going to spend like ten minutes threatening each other, or are we actually going to fight?"

"Couldn't have said it any better." Raiden commented from across the field, lowering himself as if he were going to spring forward at any moment.

Without warning, Mason suddenly charged forward with his weapons raised and uttering loud, annoying war-cry as he dashed straight towards Cinder.

"Crap." Tanner heard T mutter as he reluctantly followed Mason into the fray, unwilling to let the berserker face the threat alone.

On the other side of the conflict, Cinder gave a brief nod of the head to signal for Raiden and Mercury to charge forward to intercept the two.

With his axe and sword raised over his head, the berserker clashed weapons with the shadowcaster, who trailed darkness in the wake of his sprint forward. At the same time, Tanner went in for a horizontal slash at the boy, only for the blade of his sword to be intercepted by Mercury's boot. Flashing a brief smirk, the boy suddenly pivoted off the foot he had against his sword to deliver a kick to his face, sending him stumbling back a few steps.

Once he recovered, he had to immediately block a series of strikes directed to his chest and legs from Mercury with his sword, trying to get a shot at him with Crossed Star every now and then, though the gun was always batted out of the way by a swing-kick.

Next to him, the redhead wasn't fairing any better as Raiden fought defensively, blocking every strike the berserker sent his way even though the hits were gradually getting harder. Mason then tried to switch up his fighting style by attacking from both sides at once, sweeping his arms in front of him. In response, the shadowcaster held his long-sword in his right hand while the other glowed black as he reached down to his feet to pull a short-sword out of his shadow. With it in his off-hand, he used it to parry a strike from Bas from his left. With another smirk to add to Mason's irritation, the amber-eyed teen pushed off the berserker's weapons to deliver a slash across the redhead's leather armour, barely grazing it and taking only a small sliver of his Aura with it.

As he was pushed back, Mason quickly transformed his weapons into their gun modes and began peppering Raiden with fire, which he responded to by deflecting almost every shot with his blades.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Tanner asked through gritted teeth as he ducked under a swing from the boy in front of him before using the momentum to slide under the opening between his legs and trip him with a sweep kick. The grey-haired boy quickly recovered though, flowing with the momentum of the fall to do a backflip and land on both feet.

"What? Don't I look familiar?" he asked casually before an enraged expression took over Mercury's face as he launched a salvo of concussive rounds from his…boots?

 _Yeah, his boots._

At first, the brunette was managing just fine at blocking each shot by twirling Beofield in front of him while spinning on the spot to intercept each one, but it left him vulnerable to the boy when he suddenly launched forward for a high kick.

Twisting his whole body, the swordsman just barely dodged out of the way of the kick aimed at his chest. Even though he dodged it, Tanner was still knocked back when a projectile hit him in the back while he wasn't looking. The brunette hit the ground hard, landing on his back and a few centimetres from the glass arrow that had hit him.

It only took a second for Tanner to realise where the arrow had come from before he turned his head to Cinder, who was notching another arrow in between her bow-blades. A sudden shout of exertion brought Tanner back to the fight at hand, as he narrowly rolled out of the way of a curb-stop from the grey-haired boy. He had to keep rolling so as to not lose momentum while the speedster continuously tried to drive the heel of his boot into the brunette.

Eventually, he had to stop when he caught a glimpse of Cinder preparing to fire at him. While his Aura had protected him from the first shot, Tanner had a gut feeling that the other one would break through.

Instead, he improvised, grabbing a hold of his triple-barrelled pistol and firing at the ground under him as he rolled onto his stomach. The succeeding blast allowed him to lift his body out of the way of the grey-haired boy's downward strike while dodging the arrow that Cinder sent his way. With his momentum, Tanner took advantage of his position and bashed Mercury across the face with the pommel of his sabre as he twisted in the air to land on his feet, sending the boy back by a couple of metres.

"Not bad." He muttered as he rubbed the spot on his face that Tanner had struck. "My dad taught you well."

A wave of confusion suddenly overcame the brunette as he let his guard down in order to consider what the boy had just said. The figurative gears in his brain began turning as Tanner tried to make the connection. _How does he know me? His dad…his dad…trained me?_

He was brought out of his confusion when he heard a distinct cry that could have only come from the red berserker. Turning around, he saw Mason running his way as he twisted his body around every few steps to deflect the shower of shotgun pellets that Raiden fired at him.

"Tanner, switch with me, bro!" Mason shouted as he turned to slam his back into the swordsman. Using their joined momentum, Tanner pivoted around the berserker while the redhead did the same. In a half-second, he was suddenly facing the shadowcaster instead while Mason charged at the speedster.

Cocking his shotgun, Raiden released the last shell he had in his gun's chamber before sliding the weapon onto his back. "I don't think we've met before." He said with a confident smirk as he reached into his shadow and drew out two curved daggers. "I'm Raiden."

"Hi, Raiden." Tanner said as he fired a shot from his pistol to intercept another arrow that Cinder fired his way, causing a large cloud of smoke to form from the explosion it created. "I'm your worst nightmare." He taunted before holding Beofield in front of him as Raiden dashed forward.

An idea came to Tanner at the last second and he quickly twisted the sword in his grasp so that the blade of the weapon reflected the sunlight right into Raiden's face, causing the shadowcaster to stagger and raise a hand to shield his eyes.

Tanner smirked as he went in for a low slash at the teen's chest, but he recovered quickly enough to raise a dagger to intercept the strike. It soon became a game of trying to stab the opponent before they got the chance. When Tanner swung too high, Raiden would duck under the slash and try to get him in the chest, which he would block with his pistol. When he swung too low, the black-haired teen would leap over the strike and throw a couple small daggers from under the shadow he created. The first time he did that, the attack caught Tanner off-guard and hit him, but the subsequent two times he did it, the swordsman was able to intercept them.

As they fought, Tanner was slowly channelling his Semblance into the last few shots he had in his pistol, getting ready for the right opportunity to use them. The opportunity presented itself when Raiden went in for a stab at his chest with both daggers, throwing his weight at Tanner. Side-stepping out of the way with lightning-fast reflexes, the brunette aimed the first shot at the shadowcaster's feet, which created a large patch of ice that held Raiden in place.

The next two shots he fired off blasted the black-haired teen backwards, sending him sprawling across the ground in a succession of explosions. Tanner's smug expression that followed his victory didn't last as a sharp pain in his right arm caused him to cry out. Looking down rage filled his vision as he saw the head of one of Cinder's glass arrows sticking out of him.

Glaring at the woman who would only smile at him, he broke the head of the arrow off with the pommel of his sword before firing at her with his pistol, which clicked dry twice. "Dammit!" he cursed just as a black knife landed next to his feet, before evaporating into a black wisp.

Turning around, he saw Raiden as he unsheathed his sword as begin reloading it with shotgun shells. "Don't forget about me just yet." He said twirling the blade as he finished reloading. The shadowcaster begun with a sprint, but was tripped up by T, who had grabbed him by his sword arm just as he tried to take off. The cyborg finished the job by slamming down on the shadowcaster's stomach with his left fist, driving him into the ground.

"Go, I've got this!" T shouted at Tanner as he blocked a jab from Raiden's longsword with his bionic arm. Tanner needed no further prompting and turned to break an arrow that Cinder fired his way with his sabre while the wound in his arm cried out in pain.

Bringing his sword back around, the brunette lowered his whole body for a moment before taking off for the three women that stood in front of him, pulling the trigger on Beofield as he went to cause the blade to ignite in a blaze of fire.

He brought the flaming blade around, creating a large horizontal arc of fire that surged outwards, causing all the opponents in front of him to double back out of the way. Tanner then followed through with his swing, aiming at Cinder, and brought his sabre around and over his head to send a vertical wave of fire at the woman.

The ash-haired woman made no move to dodge the oncoming attack, and Tanner saw why. Jumping in front of the woman, the petite girl with mismatch-coloured hair used her open parasol to act as a breaker against the wave of fire.

Once the flames dissipated, she swung the parasol over her shoulder and beckoned the swordsman forward with a smirk and a dainty outstretched hand. Gritting his teeth together, Tanner accepted the challenge and charged forward.

* * *

Despite knowing that going around the whole barn wasn't the fastest way to end this, SK wasn't taking any chances. Looking at his odds, he would have to go up against four different opponents at once even if he was able to kill Cinder in a single strike; therefore, it made the most sense to go around the group so that he had the advantage of staying out of their immediate line of sight.

The battle had already begun by the time SK was halfway across the battlefield. As he went, he weighed up the odds of getting out of this alive against the strengths of his opponents. From having sparred briefly with just about all of them at some point – excluding Raiden, he knew that they were all more than capable of going toe-to-toe with him. All that remained was a question of how long the rogue could hold off against that. Multiply that by four, and the odds weren't looking good.

The only positive thing that made his task easier was that Cinder was standing still, firing arrows at the others as he went.

By the time Tanner began clashing with Neo, SK was right behind Cinder and Emerald. With his Scorched Divide already drawn, he focussed carefully on where he would decapitate the woman. He would have honestly preferred to give the ash-haired woman who left him for dead a stab through the heart, just to prove it was there, but he didn't want to leave anything to chance.

 _Go for the head, son. You couldn't possibly hit the heart on your first try – so don't bother._ His father's words echoed in his head; once a painful slap to his ego and now a different kind of painful lesson.

Drawing his falchion back, he prepared to end this battle in one fell swoop. Swinging his blade as hard as he could, a look of confusion overtook SK's concentration as the sword was blocked by two six-barrelled guns.

He followed the hands that held them to stare at their owner, Emerald, who now stared right back at him now that his Semblance had dropped.

His moment of annoyance was broken when a quick kick from a glass heel sent him backwards, stumbling until he righted himself by digging his fingers into the ground.

As SK took a moment to catch his breath, he looked up to see that he had inadvertently drawn the attention of both women.

 _Crap._

What was supposed to have been a quick assassination attempt suddenly became fifty times harder.

 _Crap crap crap!_

Flicking his blade out to his side, the rogue quickly focussed on vanishing from sight one more time before sprinting forward, having to make several sharp turns as he went to dodge bullets from Emerald and shards of glass that Cinder threw his way.

By the time he was in range, he was at Cinder's right and jumped at the opportunity, leaping as he prepared another horizontal slash while he deactivated his Semblance in order to focus his Aura on protecting his body.

Cinder intercepted the attack before it could even get close, blocking it with her bow-blades before swinging out with either side of her weapon in an attempt to slash at him. SK blocked or stepped out of the way of every strike, trying to get a few jabs of his own in. After the fourth swing, the ash-haired woman suddenly detached the ends of her bow-blade and began swiping at the rogue with both weapons in tandem.

"You. Left. Me. For. Dead!" SK hissed through gritted teeth every time he parried or intercepted a strike with his falchion.

"Perhaps I forgot to mention that term in the deal." Cinder said as she doubled back. "You were always expendable muscle!" as she shouted the last words, the ash-haired woman reached for a vial on her hip and threw its contents in front of her. In a matter of seconds, the powder substance in the vial condensed into several shards of glass that Cinder shot towards the rogue with the speed of a bullet.

Swinging his sword in front of him, SK was able to deflect all but one of the shards, which flew straight at his face. Raising his left hand unconsciously, he didn't even have time to think as the bracer caused the shard of glass to shatter, absorbing all the force of the impact.

Holding Scorched Divide in a relaxed position, the rogue took several deep breaths as he focussed his attention on Cinder, who had taken up a similar stance. "Is that all you got? Cause I can kee-" SK stopped himself as he heard the sound of a gunshot from behind him, lowering into a crouch as he activated his Semblance to vanish from sight just as the bullet passed over him and zipped past Cinder.

With his back facing the ash-haired woman, he realised that Cinder had only meant to distract him while Emerald got into a position behind him and shot him in the back. The mint-haired girl was now in a defensive stance about five metres behind him, careful eyes trained on any sudden movements that the rogue might make.

"Do you know where he is?" she shouted to Cinder. Turning around slowly as to not cause too much of a disturbance in his state of camouflage, SK's eyes widened as the ash-haired woman readied another arrow to fire directly at him.

"Let's find out." She said with a smirk as she let loose the arrow she had strung up. Stepping out of the way, the black-haired teen easily dodged out of the way of the shot, which dropped faster than he had anticipated so that it hit the ground where he stood.

SK was so sure that Cinder had missed the shot, he didn't even think to look at the arrow until it began making a banshee-like wail. His head turned to the spot the arrow had struck with breakneck speed as he saw the ground light up with an orange glow. The rogue's eyes widened as he realised that the arrow was building power, and quickly dived out of the way as an explosion sent dirt and bits of grass all over the place.

When he landed on his feet, SK dropped his Semblance involuntarily and had to quickly run out of the way when Emerald opened up on him with her rifle-weapons.

Making a wide arc around Emerald, the onyx-haired teen quickly closed the distance with a short dash towards the mint-haired girl as she ran out of shots. To him, she looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, frozen in place. But when he slashed his falchion across her chest, Emerald's form disappeared into thin air.

 _Dammit._ SK cursed himself as he pivoted on his heel to intercept the salvo of shots Emerald sent his way, trusting his feelings this time as they told him where the girl was. _I fell for it!_

Sure that this was the real Emerald, he moved on the offensive, forcing her to block with her weapons as SK tried to get in a hit.

"Did you know?" he hissed at her as their weapons locked with one another. "Did you know that she was going to leave me to die?"

"Wasn't my call to make." Emerald said as she pushed the rogue backwards with a shove. "And it doesn't make up for your betrayal. Cinder, now!" she shouted as the black-haired teen barely turned around in time to block a stab that the ash-haired woman tried to deal to his chest.

A tingling sensation along the back of his neck compelled SK to pivot on his foot and raise his left arm to block a strike that Emerald tried to deal to him.

"That's helpful." He muttered to himself as he alternated between blocking Emerald and Cinder, feeling his concentration slowly slip the more he fought. Eventually, the rogue made a slip up and left an opening for Cinder to exploit, kicking out with her heel as she sent SK straight into Emerald, who bashed him across the torso several times with her long-pistols before brought her bow-blades around to hold the rogue in a choke.

"Nowhere left to run, SK." She whispered into his ear as she began squeezing the air out of him. "Nowhere for you to hide."

"You're right." The onyx-haired teen choked out eventually while quickly flicking his wrist to prime the micro-missile launchers in his gauntlet. "Not for me – and not for you."

With a single clench of the fist and a quick flick of the wrist, SK activated the manual firing sequence that he read about in the systems "motion-activated controls", firing all four missiles directly at the ground beneath Cinder's feet.

The woman holding him heard the muffled sounds of the miniature projectiles being fired and hitting the ground, causing her to look down at the miniature explosives before throwing SK forward so that she could backflip out of the way of the explosion that followed.

Looking to Emerald, he tilted his head to the side with a neutral expression. "I've got a couple new tricks up my sleeve." He jeered before swinging his falchion in a wide arc towards the girl.

* * *

Cinder was quick to recover from her minor stumble at the surprising attack from the rogue. Standing up in her firing stance, the ash-haired woman readied her bow again. As she notched another arrow into the groove of the weapon, she began scanning the battlefield around her, different fights going on across the open field they were in.

She took a moment to take into account the whereabouts of every member of the team that opposed her. Everyone was accounted for; Mason was occupied fighting Mercury, Tanner was handling himself against Neo and Raiden, SK was taking on Emerald.

There was just one person missing.

Feeling a change in the draft of wind that passed by her ear and rustled her short hair, the woman spun around and fired her arrow the second she caught sight of the cyborg – the traitor, T.

The arrow soared at five metres a second, and quickly covered the six metre distance that T stood from her. However, as the arrow was halfway between them, the cyborg took aim with the pistol in his left hand and fired four successive shots at the arrow, shattering it in sequence with every shot.

T fired another five of the remaining shots in his clip at Cinder, which were quickly deflected by her bow-blades. It didn't take long to realise that he wasn't going to go anywhere with that tactic, but then again, he was just testing the waters.

He lowered his gun to his side, and Cinder did the same with her bow-blades. A few seconds passed between them in silence, though the longer they held eye-contact, the more the seconds began to stretch on for minutes, and then hours as each tried to predict what the other was going to do next.

Eventually, after a total of eight seconds had passed by, T finally spoke up. "This is the way you wanted it, isn't it?" he asked, giving in to her analytical glare. This was what their short staring contest was about – to see who would lose their nerve first and resort to violence to settle this, once and for all. At least, that was what T hoped. "To kill me yourself?"

For the briefest of moments, Cinder's expression flickered to surprise before settling on a toxic smirk. "How else would I have it? I gave you this power, and now I must take it back, since you have decided to use it against me." Her voice was practically dripping with confidence.

"You gave me this power?" T challenged, taking a single step forward. "You didn't give me this." He hissed as he held up his right arm, completely exposed after he cut off that one side of the sleeve. "Or this." This time, he held up his pistol in his left hand. "I took both for myself."

"Then come." The ash-haired woman let the tips of her weapons touch the ground as she held both blades at her sides. "Come and take your victory."

Folding his fingers into a fist, T commanded the many plates that made up his right arm to fold together in order to become more dense with his mind before rushing forward in a burst of speed. The hacker had his fist drawn back as he neared the woman. She still looked to have her guard down as T approached, but had her blades in front of her in a flash as the hacker went in for a punch.

When metal met metal, sparks flew as both fighters were pushed backwards. T recovered quickly, but Cinder was more than ready as he went in for the next few series of jabs and point-blank shots from his pistol, either dodging or blocking each attack with lightning-fast reflexes.

The fight dragged on with both opponents having great difficulty at striking a direct blow on one another, though the fight began to tip in T's favour the longer it dragged on. His cybernetic eye recorded the ash-haired woman's fighting style while the implants in his mind helped him to find a way to counteract each attack.

However, the tide of battle suddenly shifted when a warning signal created by the implants in his mind warned him that he had just fired the last shot in his pistol. T immediately doubled back at the next opportunity to swap clips. The hacker wasn't the only one to capitalise on the opportunity though, as Cinder suddenly shot a burst of fire from her hand at T, forcing him to roll to the side.

The magazine clipped into place as he rose to his feet and fired several shots back at the woman. This time, the bullets turned to ash before they could even touch Cinder as she held her hand in front of each projectile, holding both blades in one hand.

With her guard up and her weapons lowered, T quickly slipped the pistol on his belt and reached behind him into the pouch at his back, drawing forth a retracted harpoon that quickly expanded to full length. Reversing his grip in it, T held it like a spear as he ran towards Cinder and tried to impale her on its barbed head.

Stepping to the side, the ash-haired woman easily dodged the attack and batted the harpoon away with her blades. The diversion worked, giving T the opportunity he needed to land a solid punch to Cinder's exposed shoulder.

As she staggered from the force of the punch, the hacker quickly stabbed the harpoon in his left hand into the ground so that he had both hands free when he delivered a round of punches to Cinder, who took too long to recover from each blow.

With Cinder amply disoriented from the flurry of attacks, T quickly took the opportunity to sweep her feet aside with a kick. After that, he just waited the second it took for the woman to fall to the ground, doing nothing to stop her short descent.

However, what he had not been planning for was for Cinder to suddenly break her fall with a roll and throw several daggers of glass at him as she recovered. T was only able to block two of the three daggers that came his way with her right arm, missing the last one as it stabbed into his shin.

His Aura flared, absorbing most of the damage as the dagger shattered into a shower of glass. Staggering slightly, T mentally kicked himself half a second later for leaving an opening for Cinder to exploit – which she did by sprinting towards him and raising both her swords to deal a double-diagonal slash.

T fought against the pain in order to raise his right arm in front of his face as he turned his head away reflexively when the two clashed.

"You surprise me." Cinder said as she pushed her advantage. "You've somehow gotten better over the past month."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Fall." T spoke through gritted teeth as he twisted his grip on his harpoon so that he could jab it into Cinder's side. Cinder responded by changing her fighting stance, backpedalling by a single step as she used one sword to deflect the harpoon while she used one to maintain the back-and-forth lock it had with T's arm for a split-second so that she could twist on the foot behind her and swing backwards.

The hacker continued to press the offensive by loading the harpoon into his arm, which transformed into its harpoon-gun mode as he drew his pistol, using the head of the harpoon that stuck from his arm to try and jab Cinder. Every time the ash-haired woman tried to dodge out of the way of the attack or deflect his strike, T would compensate his offensive by extending or retracting the harpoon in his arm.

Sliding away from the fight for a moment, Cinder quickly joined both her bow-blades together while simultaneously creating a whip made of energy in her free hand.

The half-Maiden quickly swung the whip around to strike T across the chest, causing him to stagger to one knee while firing two shots at her. Cinder wasn't prepared for the oncoming two projectiles, and frantically swung the whip in front of her to reduce the bullets to ash.

This gave the hacker the opening he needed to fire the harpoon at her, which moved at the speed of a bullet with the size and momentum that would be carried by one of her arrows. Needless to say, a harpoon was a lot harder to stop than a bullet.

Instead, Cinder attempted to dodge out of the way of the projectile, only to be suddenly thrown to the side when T twisted his arm slightly, activating the payload in the harpoon's head and causing it to explode in a shower of ice shards.

Sprawling on the ground, Cinder struggled to recover as T loaded another harpoon in his arm. Not taking any chances, the hacker quickly lined up his next shot and fired as soon as he was ready. The harpoon flew halfway across the distance between them when suddenly a flash of pink, white and brown was in his way to bat the harpoon to the side.

The cyborg's eyes never left the girl who glared back at him while her parasol opened up and his right arm lowered. As she blinked at him, her eyes swapped colours every two blinks. T responded to the action by blinking in return, his own eyes swapping colour every two blinks just like her – changing between brown and bright-blue. This little exchange spoke in greater volumes than actual words could, as it conveyed something much more between the two.

His throat suddenly felt very dry when he tried to speak, but he couldn't delay much further. _We don't have time. They'll be here any minute now. The only way we're both getting out of here is if I get to her. Now._

And all at once, as their stances changed to a more casual standoff, T spoke, more for himself than either of them. "Hi, Neo."


	23. Chapter 18

Fools Who Fight

 **Same time...**

Mercury had to backpedal out of the way even faster this time as Mason leapt into the air and brought both his weapons down on the ground, creating a crater in the dirt as he chased after the grey-haired boy.

"Get back here when you git gud!" the redhead yelled as he transformed both his longsword and his battle-axe into their ranged-weapon form and began firing shotgun shells and pistol slugs at the fleeing Mercury, who dodged out of the way each time.

"Raiden!" he called out ahead of him at the shadowcaster, who was occupied with fighting the brunette swordsman on his team. "A little help here!" his voice clearly carried a tone of distress and urgency, but didn't betray the fear he was feeling as he ran for his life.

As Mercury had no knowledge of Mason's Semblance, or how it made the berserker stronger every time he was able to land a hit, the speedster had simply drawn on the fight parrying one another, neither combatants able to land an actual blow. Mason's spontaneous fighting style was somehow more than enough to counter the grey-haired boy's speed and concussive blasts, leaving him only to try and get under the berserker's guard to land a hit while parrying the hits that Mason dealt. However, he quickly noticed how each hit the redhead dealt was stronger than the last, and opted to fall back so that someone else could take over, since he was having no luck.

Putting up a wall made of his own shadow between himself and Tanner, Raiden glanced in Mercury's direction. "What's the matter, Boots? I mean sure, he's a feisty one, but I'd expect you to be a-"

"Just shut up and help me!" Mercury shouted, cutting the black-haired teen off as he pushed his body off the ground with one foot and did a mid-air twist to avoid several slugs that Mason shot his way.

"Your deus ex machina can't save you from me!" the redhead yelled after him in reply. "No matter what the writer says!"

With a sigh, Raiden reached into his wall of shadow to pull forth a shield and hold it over his head, as Tanner vaulted over the wall between them and fired several Dust rounds at him from above, yelling as he made his arc through the air and each shot exploded against the shield.

The shadowcaster grunted as each shot made contact with his shield, growing more fatigued by the minute as he extended his Aura through the use of his Semblance. Not wanting to waste any more time, the teen reached into the remainder of the wall of shadows with his sword to allow the solid darkness to coalesce on the black blade. When Tanner's feet touched the ground, the shield he held dissipated, and Raiden swung his sword in a wide arc directed at Tanner, sending a wave of solid shadow his way that knocked him over and onto his back. _I've got to do everything here, don't I?_ Reaching into his shadow once more, the midnight-haired boy closed his eyes for a moment before pulling out a dagger attached to a length of thread.

Once the shadowy thread was firmly wrapped around his arm, Raiden reached out with his off-hand to help with his aim as he built momentum by swinging the dagger at the end of the rope faster and faster before finally releasing his hold on it and sending it flying into the path of the berserker. Within seconds, the redhead was trapped in a coil of shadow as the black-haired teen yanked on his end of the shadow, causing Mason to fall to the ground. "Now, Merc! Finish him now!" he called out as Mercury channelled his forward momentum from running into a backflip that sent him several metres into the air before landing behind Mason.

Bound by his torso and on the ground, the redhead had no way to defend himself as Mercury leapt into the air with a boost from a concussive round that he fired directly into the ground. When he reached the peak of his jump, the grey-haired boy positioned his right leg so as to drive his heel right into the berserker with a powerful slam. A metre from the ground, however, a small explosion against his knee caused Mercury to land two steps too far off and miss his attack.

With a grunt of annoyance, Raiden turned to where the shot came from and found that Tanner had gotten into a crouch and fired a single shot from his sword-pistol, which was now folded into a double-barrelled flintlock, aimed at Mercury.

"I didn't say you could get up!" snapped at the swordsman as he channelled his Aura while curling his fingers, willing several tendrils of darkness to rise out of Tanner's shadow and grab him by the arms, pulling him back to the ground.

However, with his focus so divided and his Aura half-way depleted, the rope of darkness that bound Mason weakened, and the berserker was able to tear himself free. Raising Fuil to block an attack from Mercury, Mason repaid the favour to Tanner by firing a shotgun shell at Raiden from Bas once it folded into its lever-action shotgun form.

Sensing the imminent threat, Raiden held his weapon, Hollow, in front of him to deflect the oncoming pellets, unintentionally releasing his hold on Tanner and allowing the boy to charge straight at him with his sabre out.

With how quickly the brunette closed the distance, Raiden didn't have any time to turn and block the oncoming attack with his blade. But just as Tanner's sabre made contact, a green and brown form slid in front of the oncoming attack and caught it in between two long-pistols.

The black-haired teen took the moment to relax his shoulders and breathe out a sigh of relief as the brunette in front of them stuck his triple-barrelled pistol over their locked weapons in an attempt to shoot him, only to click dry three times and getting no reaction out of the shadowcaster. "I had him, you know?" he said with a huff, directing the question to the head of green hair right in front of him.

"Don't worry about him," Emerald strained to say through gritted teeth without turning around to look Raiden. "-worry about the-"

Before the mint-haired girl could finish what she was about to say, a beam of hot energy struck Raiden in the back and sent him sprawling across the ground. Having no way to protect himself, the teen continued to roll across the ground painfully with the unrelenting force of the beam until it stopped.

Coughing out a mouthful of dirt and grass he had accidentally picked up, Raiden sent a glare in the direction of the beam, finding a hooded figure he didn't see before crouched on the ground, holding what looked to be a hybrid between a curved sword and an energy-rifle.

 _Another one?_ Raiden was quick to raise his sword as he got up and into a low stance, holding it upside-down defensively as he expected another attack. The figure's attention left the shadowcaster, however, as he fired a second beam of energy at Mercury. However, the speedster seemed to have sensed the attack coming and bent his back far enough that the beam struck the redhead that he was fighting instead.

With the berserker out of the way, Mercury suddenly turned his attention on SK, closing the distance in seconds as he brought one leg around in a roundhouse-kick aimed at the rogue's neck. SK raised his falchion in response, catching the attack with the flat of his blade. "I've been waiting for the chance to kick your ass." The onyx-haired boy hissed as he pushed back against the boot and vanished.

Taking a deep breath, Mercury waited a beat before suddenly kicking out in one direction, missing the rogue by an inch but provoking an attack in response. A blade began to materialise from its tip to its wielder as SK struck out from what he thought would be a blind-spot for the speedster's defence. However, at the last split-second, Mercury transferred his balance onto his hands and twisted his whole body on the spot, swinging his legs in a circle and kicking the sword away before the rogue had a time to redirect his attack.

From his hand-stand, the grey-haired teen pushed himself off the grass and landed a couple metre away from SK. "So have I, slick." Mercury said with a grin as he dusted his hands off. "So have I."

* * *

Across the battlefield, Tanner and Emerald stood with their guns pointed at one another, either opponent reluctant to be the first to pull the trigger as they glared at one another.

With careful sidesteps, the two began to circle around one another in order to keep their respective allies and enemies in sight. "How'd we end up like this, huh Em?" Tanner called out as his eyes glowed orange for a moment, causing a ripple of Aura to surge through his scarf.

Emerald took a few seconds to respond as she mirrored Tanner's footwork. "You know, I wasn't sure whether to feel relief or pity when I saw you jump out of that airship." The mint-haired girl's voice was a little high-strung from the fatigue of battle and the emotions behind them. "I thought you'd died when T came for you, but now I'm not sure if I'd wish you had died then and there." Her crimson eyes shone in the noonday sun.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Emerald." Tanner said as he slowly lowered Crossed Star. "We don't have to fight one another."

"Yes we do!" Emerald shot back. "There's no winning a fight against Cinder, so you're either with her, or dead."

"Haven't I already shown you that I'm more than capable of beating impressive odds?" Tanner asked her rhetorically. "Look, you're really pushing my patience here, Em, but as one of my best friends, I'm giving you a chance to lower your weapons so that I can guarantee your safe-" before the brunette was able to finish his sentence, the mint-green haired girl in front of him jabbed one of her weapons forward, which grazed Tanner's waist as he twisted to the side. "-ty." He finished as he brought one of his pistols around to try and club the girl over the head. Green twin-tails swirled in a spiral as Emerald twisted to intercept the blow with her own pistol. Aiming low, Tanner tried to fire off a shot from his double-barrelled at Emerald's leg – having reloaded all his weapons a few moments ago, but the shot was redirected almost instantly when Emerald brought her other pistol around to hit it to the side.

"You should _really_ think about upgrading your loadout." Tanner commented as he blocked a strike aimed at his head. "If I weren't going easy on you, you'd already be on the floor."

"Oh, you're going easy on me, are you?" Emerald quipped with a quick smirk. "Funny, I was just about to say the same thing."

The swordsman quickly grinned at the nostalgia behind those familiar lines that they shared with each other in the past, but it quickly disappeared as he swung Crossed Stars around to try and take a shot at the girl's left shoulder. The barrel of the gun was stopped a centimetre from being aligned with Emerald's shoulder by her free gun, causing Tanner to involuntarily fire a shot off, unintentionally striking a spot close to where Cinder was standing, making the woman glare at him from across the battlefield.

Tanner was unaware of his serendipitous misfire, however, as he continued to press his offensive on Emerald and force the girl to take several steps back as they traded strikes and missed shots with one another. "I'm going to run out of bullets eventually, but so are you." Tanner warned as one of his stray shots hit Mason in the side, causing a mound of ice to form and freeze him to the ground. "When we do, you had better decide to surrender, because if you don't, I'll have to skewer you. And so far, there are only…seven people I _really_ want to skewer."

"Face it, Vermillion;" Emerald hissed back as she fired two shots from one of her guns, each bullet going wide as Tanner slapped it to the side. "-if you could kill me, you'd have already done it."

"Something tells me you don't want to kill me either." Tanner said as he pushed her back to put some distance between them as he fired a concussive blast of fire from each of his pistols.

The force of the shots, which Tanner had purposely aimed at the ground Emerald stood on, sent her back a few metres in a spiral through the air, but she quickly recovered by sticking the landing with both feet, one hand being used to support her as she dragged three lines through the dirt and grass. As much as he hated to admit it, the trickster was right; Tanner didn't have it in him to kill her, yet.

Just as he was about to say something else, a warcry coming from one side caused Tanner to pivot on one heel and intercept the target. With both guns trained on where his eyes were looking, the brunette quickly took aim as he saw Raiden run up to him from one side, sword drawn and ready to deal a heavy slash.

Firing a quick salvo of shots from his weapons, Tanner's eyes widened suddenly as the figure of the shadowcaster dissolved as the shots passed through it harmlessly. Only after a second's hesitation did he realise that it was one of Emerald's illusions, and quickly turned back to face the girl. However, it was already too late, and Emerald had already begun firing rounds from her long-pistols at him.

With determination to end the fight while not killing the mint-haired girl, Tanner quickly changed his grip on Beofield, causing it to transform into its sabre form as he dodged and blocked each oncoming shot with the blade of his weapon. With quick footwork and a clever flanking technique he had picked up, Tanner quickly closed the distance between them and put both his weapons against Emerald's body – Crossed Star against her chest, Beofield against her neck.

In response, Emerald pushed the barrels of her long-pistols into Tanner's chest, the hot barrels making themselves known through his orange denim shirt. "Go on, do it." Emerald dared with a cold look in her eyes. "You wasted your last shots on the illusion, so all you've got left is your sword. However, I've still got a few shots in these things." A few seconds passed as they held each other's glare, neither of them daring to take the initiative to break the standoff and provoke the wrath of their opponent. As the seconds passed, Tanner scanned those cold, crimson eyes that stared back at him, searching for a trace of the girl he once knew, and helped find their way in Atlas while he tried to find his own way.

They had been there for each other in their time of need, but, as fate would have it, they now stood against each other.

Tanner came to realise that the Emerald he had known was still there, all of her, but there was something different that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Suddenly, her look turned triumphant. "I told you, there's no way you could-" a loud explosion at point-blank range cut her off as Tanner pulled on the trigger of his flintlock pistol, causing the hammer to slam into the remaining round in its chamber and fire it off into Emerald's chest, throwing her back several steps with a crackle of lightning.

Her mint-green Aura flickered over her form with a few streaks of residual lightning before flickering out like a broken lightbulb, signalling that the last of her protective Aura had just been depleted. "Someone's not counting their shots." Tanner quipped. _Me. It's me. I legitimately thought I was empty – dammit! Now I've got to apologize to her…eventually._

As he slipped his pistol into its holster, Tanner took his time with walking over to Emerald's downed body, who was still struggling to get up. Reluctantly, the brunette put his boot on the thief's chest where he had fired off his point-blank shot, eliciting a hiss of pain as he used the tip of his sabre to tilt her head up to meet his eyes. "Give up, Em. You know the longer we fight the more Grimm we're going to attract."

With a few strained breaths of air, the thief eventually met his gaze with her own steady glare. "That's the point, isn't it?" she hissed out through her teeth.

Furrowing his brow, Tanner crouched down so he didn't have to strain to hear her. The guilt in him further compelled him to use his free hand to support the back of her head as he spoke. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know." Emerald spat back, but her bitter expression changed to one of surprise as it looked like the blood momentarily drained from her face. "You don't…do you?"

"Know what? What's going on?" Tanner tried to force the answers out of her, but was cut short when a cry of rage came from his left and the brunette had to leave Emerald's side to fend off a sudden flurry of attacks from Mercury.

Every strike that the speedster dealt, Tanner had to take a step backwards until he found his back pressed against SK's. However, with both swordsman and rogue focussed on fighting their respective opponents, the sudden proximity with another person was registered as an enemy, and both immediately spun around to try and strike each other down. Only after their blades clashed and locked did they realise who they were about to fight, and who they had to fight.

Behind SK, the shadowcaster was sprinting towards him for an attack while Mercury was running up from behind Tanner. "Switch!" the rogue yelled suddenly, but Tanner didn't need any further prompt as he followed the Vacuo-born's anti-clockwise movement to deflect a strike from Raiden, who was now only using his sword to fight.

Surrounded on both sides, the brunette suddenly got an idea that would either kill them both, or save them both. "When I say so, drop to the ground and get your laser beam ready!" he yelled over his shoulder while pushing back against the shadowcaster with the flat of his sabre.

"What? Why?"

"Now!" he yelled as he used his free hand to grab the end of his neck-scarf, undoing it in a single tug as he swung it around in a wide, anti-clockwise circle. With the remainder of his Aura, Tanner channelled it through the enhanced fabric of his scarf and caused the Dust carefully sewn into it to ignite.

His cheap trick worked, startling their two opponents and forcing them both back several steps. With the golden opportunity present, SK didn't hesitate to power up his beam-rifle and fire at both their opponents from where he was crouched on the ground. The first blast sent Mercury flying backwards, but the second was blocked by the flat of Raiden's longsword as the force behind the beam of energy pushed him backwards by several steps, dragging two tracks in the dirt.

The rogue would have kept his offensive up for longer, if the cartridge in his falchion hadn't run out of Dust, forcing him to stop, give the weapon a couple seconds to cool off before swapping capsules by sliding a new one into a slot that opened up in its side.

Before he could resume his offensive, however, Tanner nabbed his attention by grabbing him by the shoulder. "I need you and Mason to hold them off – Emerald's down, don't bother with her – while I go find T."

"You do that, I can handle myself." SK said, sounding thoroughly winded. "That bloody marauder's taking care of a few Grimm that're showing up. If we don't end this soon, Cinder'll be the least of our problems."

"I think that's what they want."

* * *

A sudden sense of vertigo overtook T as he was thrown off his feet by a blast of Fall Maiden energy from Cinder, sending him through the burnt and broken remains of one of the walls of the barn. The feeling only lasted a second as he stumbled in the ashes and charcoal back to his feet, ready for whoever attacked him next.

Out of the corner of his peripheral vision, a shimmer of light from his left immediately had T deliver a roundhouse kick with his right leg, intercepting a pink and white parasol that had been swung at his shoulder. The backwards force behind the kick had T back on both his feet as he raised his bionic arm to block a flurry of strikes from Neo. Both fighters were nearly equally matched, with Neo only slightly faster than the hacker as his blunt strikes were slower than the illusionist's deft strikes.

Their fight dragged on for seconds, kicking up ash and burnt splinters of wood as they pushed each other back and forth through the burnt remains of the interior of the barn.

However, they knew each other's fighting style well enough to know how to counteract their opponent. The way in which they flowed in their fight provided a glimpse at how well they knew each other, the fight between them seeming more like a dance than anything as they either dodged or blocked every strike they were dealt or dealt. From the perspective of someone watching the fight, it would seem they were equally matched, and that the fight was locked in a stalemate.

The whole time, as metal clashed against metal, T held back. At any time, he could have used either his sidearm or one of his extra harpoons to get a ranged advantage. Each punch he struck was pulled ever so slightly as to only damage the girl's Aura and not leave any lasting bruising or break any bones. Neo, however, didn't hold back, and each strike and stab from her rapier-parasol had the intent to kill.

"Neo," T ducked under another stab as he struck out with his leg. "-listen to me." The sole of his boot landed square on Neo's chest, sending her back a couple steps in a flip.

A couple steady heartbeats passed as Neo rose to her full height, holding eye contact with T as she signed with one hand. _"I'm done listening to you."_ As she said this, the hacker suddenly felt a chill go up his spine as he turned around to see Cinder dash towards him with both of her blades ready to impale him through the abdomen.

"And I'm done playing." T said out loud as he held out his left hand, channelling his Aura through it to manifest as his Semblance. Almost immediately, Cinder stumbled in her dash before collapsing to the ash-covered ground with a pained groan on both her hands and feet, dropping her weapons while using one hand to cover the top of her head and try to sooth the mind-splitting headache she suddenly felt.

As his hand glowed a bright-blue, T was barely handling it any better. His Semblance, Pacify, worked both ways, giving him a significantly weaker headache while the ash-haired woman felt as if her head had just split open.

When he turned around, however, Neo had him at blade-point, the tip of her thrusting sword pressed gently into his throat as she glared at him with a baleful look while signing with one hand. _Let. Her. Go."_ She said as her eyes momentarily switched colours, applying just a little bit more pressure onto his throat for emphasis.

"Neo, any moment now, a horde of Grimm is going to sweep through here and kill everyone. My airship is already on a flight path to pick us up, which means I'm you're only hope of making it out alive. Now, you either follow me, or die with her." He stated as he gestured back to Cinder, who was trying to slowly crawl towards her discarded weapons, the edges of his vision starting to blur. With the way his Semblance worked, it was a lot harder to pacify a strong mind without having to exert himself at the same time – and Cinder had a strong mind, so what he was doing now was really pushing T to his limit. "It's your choice."

This was the greatest variable in his plan; whether Neo would follow him or not. If she didn't his only option would be to sacrifice the others as a distraction while he knocked her out, called in Overwatch and let the Grimm sweep through the area and kill them all. If she _did_ agree to go along with him, well, it made things a lot easier.

T's thoughts were broken momentarily by the sound of shifting glass. Turning around, he saw that Cinder had gotten hold of her bow and was trying to pull the string back and fire. However, her aim was so shaky, the hacker doubted that she could hit him even if she was able to pull the bowstring far enough back.

"Neo." He hissed out, the pain in his head starting to become too much for him. "I can't hold on much longer. You have to-" before he was able to finish his statement, a familiar howl went up in the air, echoing about the open field as T's HUD showed an increase in his heart-rate.

A few seconds passed as the girl maintained her glare before nodding ever so slightly. In hindsight, the fact that she never dropped her glare should have been an indication of her true intention, but T was too relieved at the time to care.

With the minor slip-up in judgement, T unintentionally loosened the vice he had on Cinder's mind, allowing the woman to build up the concentration she needed to flick a small fireball at him. Moving purely on muscle-memory, T raised his metallic arm to intercept the projectile, releasing his hold on Cinder entirely and allowing Neo to dash by him, grab the ash-haired woman and disappear in a blink of light.

Before the hacker had the chance to curse his reflex and for going against his own probabilities, he found himself blocking an incendiary projectile coming from the direction he was facing. With his arm raised, he blocked the shot and waved the flames away, revealing Tanner standing on the opposite side of the destroyed barn with his flintlock raised. Though he didn't say anything for a few seconds, his facial expression conveyed his apology.

T saw, though, that in his eyes, the brunette held no regrets for the accidental friendly-fire.

"What just happened?" Tanner hastily asked as he began slowly swinging his pistols in a circle, on guard and weary of any surprise attacks.

"Neo's Semblance allows for short-range teleportation and the ability to leave a solid copy of herself behind." T stated the fact as he began walking towards the swordsman.

"Well, whatever. We need to get out of here." Tanner warned just as a howl went up from his left and T's right, compelling the two to raise their weapons in that direction, anticipating an attack by a large Grimm. A second passed, then the next, then Tanner lowered his guard to continue speaking. "Something's not right – Cinder's got something up her sleeve that doesn't have her worried about the Grimm."

With genuine confusion on his face, the hacker turned to face Tanner as a small chill went down his spine. "What do you mean?"

"Emerald said something about-"

Before the Atlas-born swordsman could finish what he was trying to say, the sound of wood splintering and falling apart gave way to a pack of three Beowulves. Raising their guns, Tanner and T fired a series of shots at the pack, the bullets piercing straight through their as they each finally dropped after a headshot.

"You can't trust anything that bitch says." T said as he dropped the clip in his gun to the ground and slapped a fresh clip into the silenced pistol.

Tanner's features darkened slightly after T made that remark, but continued as if nothing had been said. "She looked scared – not about us or the Grimm, it was more like she was scared of Cinder. T, you have to believe me, my hunch is telling me that this is going to go bad _really_ fast for us."

A boarbatusk suddenly burst through the burnt, fragile planks of wood that made up the wall of the barn. "Hunches didn't get me this far." T said as he took up a defensive stance while the boar-Grimm let out a fierce squeal and began pawing the ground with its legs. "Statistics did. Move!" the hacker's warning just got to Tanner as he dived out of the way of the boarbatusk, which had suddenly charged forward.

The swordsman dived out of the way with a split-second to spare as the creature of Grimm burst through the wall on the opposite side of the barn, causing what was left of the roof to collapse on the evil creature as Tanner and T made their way out of the remains of the barn – clear of the falling rubble.

Neither got a chance to take a breath. By the time they clambered over the charred wooden planks that made up the wall of the barn in order to escape the collapsing building, they were both intercepted from either side by Neo and Cinder, who struck in a diagonal slash.

Anticipating the attack, T was able to raise his arm in time to block the strike from Neo, but Tanner wasn't, taking a large amount of damage to the Aura protecting him. Unable to stand against the force that the ash-haired woman had struck him with, Tanner fell to the grass with a hard slam as the half-Maiden dug one of her heels into his chest.

With two light kicks, Cinder was able to send the brunette's weapons rolling across the ground and out of his reach as he took a sharp intake of air. "Hannah wasn't kidding," he wheezed out weakly. "-stiletto heels hurt like a bitch." Even in his incapacitated state, being faced with the cold steel of his enemy's blade, Tanner was able to flash an obnoxious smirk. "Double that if they're being worn by a bitch."

"Would you rather I rest my heel somewhere else?" the ash-haired woman asked with her own smirk in return. The foot she had rested on Tanner's chest began to slowly move lower. "Somewhere more…sensitive?"

"Do that, and I can't guarantee I won't make a mess of your boots. I also can't guarantee you'll have those legs after that." Tanner replied.

"That's assuming you live long enough to do something about it."

A few metres away, T struggled with the bladed end of Neo's parasol, which she was trying to drive into his face. With both hands wrapped around its end, he held it at bay instead of sending it back into the multi-coloured girl. Holding her back, the hacker quickly debated in his head what the best course of action would be to take.

The Grimm were already upon them, and Overwatch was at best a minute out. Everyone else was expendable, but that didn't help his case against the overwhelming odds. However, T's hesitation and indecision played into Neo's strategy, as the petite trickster suddenly drew her weapon back with such force that the cyborg was drawn towards her.

T saw, clearly, that Neo had the perfect opportunity to drive her rapier through him right then and there. The fact that she didn't briefly sparked hope in his mind, but it was quickly buried once again by doubt and a cloud of other emotions as she rounded him – using his shoulders as pivoting points as she swung her whole body around to get behind him, and held him in a choke-hold with her parasol.

Struggling briefly, the cyborg craned his neck in order to stare at the girl out of his peripheral vision, trying to convey his thoughts without words. A low growl from behind them quickly reminded him of the ever-growing presence of the Grimm.

"Neo, please." T could barely say the words with how tight his throat had become.

In response, the murderous combination of colours pulled even harder on her parasol, allowing the hacker to feel his own windpipe being squeezed. To prevent himself from losing breath faster, T exhaled all the air in his lungs to reduce pressure, preparing to channel his Semblance into the girl on a moment's notice.

"Neo, make sure he's watching." Cinder ordered as the Grimm continued to surround them in an even tighter circle, none of them daring to break it.

A few metres away, enemies turned into reluctant allies, choosing to fight the Grimm over fighting each other for the time being. SK raised his left hand and fired a salvo of micro-missiles at a Death Stalker – doing nothing but burning it's thick scales – as Emerald covered his back with fire.

"We're going to die out here unless we stop fighting each other and work out an escape plan!" SK shouted as he swung his falchion in a wide arc, taking the top of a beowulf's head in one swing.

"Not us," Emerald said just as an Ursa brought it's paw down on her, hitting nothing as the girl dodged out of the way in time. "-just you. Merc, Raiden, we need to get back to Cinder!" she called out as she began firing wildly to clear a path straight to her team leader.

Distracted by the statement and wondering for a second too long about what Emerald meant, the rogue was caught off-guard as a Beringel pounced on him, crushing his arms under it's massive fists. Unable to move his arms at all, SK was only able to glare in a mixture of anger and fear at the large creature on top of him, turning his head to the side to see that Mason was faring slightly better.

The redhead berserker was by himself, surrounded by a pack of beowulves with nowhere to go. However, his erratic attacks and defensive-offensives kept catching the beowulves off-guard no matter who tried to attack him. "Bruhs, are you even trying?" he asked a beowulf that he had caught in a lock with his battle axe and his longsword by it's head, right before pulling his weapons back and decapitating it.

On the other side of the battlefield, T, Neo, Cinder and Tanner had been thoroughly surrounded by Grimm of all sizes, with no way out that didn't involve carving a path through the monsters.

The first thought that came to T's mind was that this was a final, suicidal attempt by Cinder to rid Remnant of him, once and for all. It was a dramatic display of her desire to destroy him, no doubt, but from everything he had seen of the woman, this was the last thing the ash-haired woman would do. While Cinder was a lot of things, she was not foolhardy – not to mention, she lacked the morality and conviction to give her life up in order to destroy his.

Suddenly, Tanner's warning came back to his mind, and the hacker suddenly realised that he should have taken the warning into account, instead of dismissing it as an attempt to dissuade them from continuing the fight. All that was left, really, was to find out what Cinder's ace was.

Against the pounding of his heart, against the blaring alarm in his mind warning him about the incredible number of Grimm around them, T held his ground, keeping half his mind on the ETA of Overwatch's arrival as he watched the woman.

A moment later, a Grimm Beowulf began walking up to Cinder and Tanner on all fours, with the intent, T had assumed, to finish the downed man and fight the woman if it had to.

What happened next, however, the hacker could _never_ have predicted.


	24. Chapter 19

**A/N: Sorry for the delay. Life's not been easy on me and I'm just beginning to re-realise how much this story's gonna need from me for it to be completed. I've been working on a bunch of other side-projects as well, which was a inconsiderate move on my part. Along with that, I'm trying out a new writing style whereby I'll write DAWN and MSTT side-by-side so that the breaks between them aren't so HUGE. Anyway, on to the story.**

Liars Who Fight

 **Present Day…**

Several seconds passed in silence as everyone's eyes were transfixed on the holographic screen in the room. Though he couldn't be sure, Tanner was relatively certain that the jaws of his captors slacked for a moment at what they saw.

Eventually, once it had repeated on a loop for the third time, Glynda Goodwitch was the first to turn around and face T. "What exactly are we looking at here?"

The hacker sat in silence for a few instances as all three of them turned to stare at him while he twirled his Scroll in between his fingers. "Before that day, I had no idea of this variable behind Cinder's power, but…" he took a pause to glance at his other teammates before continuing. "The Fall Maiden can control the Grimm."

As Tanner had expected, both Jay and Glynda both had expressions of shock after T finished what he was trying to say. Curiously enough, Qrow seemed the least surprised of them all.

Without saying anything Glynda turned to look at Qrow from her side of the table, silently asking him something which he answered with a subtle nod. "How is this possible?" she asked as the brunette swordsman shared a look with T, verifying that it was fear he heard in her voice.

"It must be something that She did for her." Qrow stated as he swiveled in his chair to face the screen again as the loop continued to cycle for the sixth time. "I'm not sure what the extent of Her power actually is, but I wouldn't be surprised if She had a way to give something that allowed for others to control the Grimm."

"Hold on," Tanner said, raising his voice. "Who are we talking about here?" he was thoroughly confused as to who the two teachers could be talking about. Initially, he had thought that they were referring to Cinder, but that could not be the case.

"We know just about all of Cinder's associates and none of them are able to control Grimm." SK stated monotonously as he laced his fingers together. "Is there something you're not telling us, Qrow?"

The dark-haired reaper's face made a slow transition from surprise to a stoic, grim expression. "You really don't know do you?" he asked as he turned to direct the question at T.

"I'm afraid you'll need to be more specific about that question." T said, the impatience clear in his voice.

"Ok, fine;" the alcoholic said with knitted eyebrows. "-who's in charge of Cinder's operations?"

Tanner had a strong feeling that this was some kind of trick question, and no matter what they answered with it would be wrong. He had no idea as to how to voice it, but assumed that T could sense it as well.

"Cinder's the one pulling all the strings," T said monotonously, but when the only answer he got was a series of glances between the two teachers and the teen in the military coat, the hacker's eyes visibly widened. "…right?"

"There's…a lot more to it than just Cinder." Jay admitted after a second, resting one gloved hand on top of the other.

"Hold on, I don't understand!" Tanner said as he rose out of his chair, causing everyone in the room to tense up. "You're telling me that we've been fighting this fight for almost a year and Cinder isn't the end of it?"

"Neither is she the worse of it." Qrow added after a second, causing the brunette to deflate and slump back in his chair, muttering curses under his breath as he did.

"I need a name." T demanded after a pause.

"You tell me yours I'll tell you mine."

"I've told you enough already."

"You can't decide how much we should be able to know." The dirty-blonde sitting across from him countered immediately.

"Everything I told you has been accounted for within my variables and scenarios – now you've added a new figure into the algorithm. Give me a name, and I'll continue telling you what you want to know." T stated calmly, though everyone saw his hands clench into fists.

"Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight." Mason chanted softly from his side of the room, though it went ignored by everyone else.

A condescending silence filled the room for a few seconds before Glynda cleared her through, drawing everyone's attention. "The barbarian has a point," she said as she cast a look of animosity at the redhead. "-we won't resolve anything by fighting one another, so how about a compromise; tell us what happened with this Raiden Alexander and that girl with the parasol."

"You hesitated." The scarlet-eyed Huntsman stated, giving T a pointed look. When the hacker did not immediately reply, Qrow continued. "You had a clear shot at the girl seven times. Seven times you could have dealt a critical blow or a chance to deal a lethal blow – I saw them, and so did you." Qrow's tone turned accusing. "Why didn't you take them?"

There was a lapse of a few seconds as everyone waited for T to say something, which was eventually broken by SK. "Go on, T. Tell them. It's your secret to tell." His tone was understanding as he turned to face Jay and grimace.

"It's better to just show you." T said as the table lit up under his arm once more. "It'll answer both of your questions that way."

"Trigger warning: what happens next isn't pretty!" Mason hollered abruptly.

"He's not wrong." Tanner agreed, as he lifted his arms up and began rolling up his sleeves. "Let's just say, not all of us got out of this one without a few scratches."

* * *

 **Three Months Before Volume 1…**

The brunette couldn't believe what he was seeing. Just a few feet from him stood Cinder, condescending smirk and poise in full effect. Standing right in front of her, face to face, was an Alpha Beowulf.

How she was able to get so close to one without having it bite her face off was beyond him, however, it was what the woman did next that really made Tanner's breathing stop for a few seconds.

With her bare hand, the ash-haired woman reached out and gently caressed the Beowulf on the cheek as if it were a pet. He was sure in that moment that Cinder was absolutely, undoubtedly mad if it weren't for the fact that the creature of Grimm made a low rumbling sound in response.

 _Holy shit!_ Tanner thought to himself as he tried to crawl away. _She's controlling them. How the fuck is she controlling them?_

"Surprised, T?" Cinder asked over her shoulder. Turning his gaze to the cyborg, Tanner saw an expression that he never thought the mysterious hacker was capable of making. The surprise on T's face worried him more than the Beowulf standing less than six feet away from him. "I guess you don't know everything after all." She jeered as she stepped away from the Beowulf and allowed it to approach Tanner's prone form.

"How the fu-"

"You should've known what you were doing when you decided to go against me, Vermillion." Cinder said right before delivering a sharp kick to Tanner's chest, causing all the air in his lungs to rush out as he recoiled in pain. "And now you will suffer for your betrayal." The ash-haired woman extended her hand towards the creature of Grimm, palm up. It seemed to acknowledge the gesture by lowering its stance before she next spoke and dropped her hand to her side. "Kill."

The second the icy word left her lips, the alpha Beowulf was on him, sharp claws and teeth intent on ripping his throat out. With little time to react, Tanner threw one of his arms in the way of a strike from the creature's claw, successfully batting it out of the way before it plunged its head forward for a bite. Without any other way to defend himself, the brunette acted on instinct and held his left hand in front of him to block the attack. The Beowulf's sharp teeth instead latched around his wrist and began digging through his flesh as it jerked its head back and forth to try and rip his arm out. Blood gushed out as several arteries and veins were shredded by the creature's sharp teeth.

All the while, Tanner screamed in pain and anguish as he did what he could to free himself from the Beowulf's grasp with only one hand available to him. Eventually, a sharp blow to the side of the Grimm's head caused it to loosen its grip, only for it to begin biting down on his other arm. This time, however, Tanner had no way of defending himself as he could hardly move his left arm, numb from the pain and blood loss.

Crippled and pinned beneath a monster, all the scared swordsman could do was scream for help.

The whole time, T looked on with a calculative stare, processing in his mind the best path for Overwatch's attack run. It would be close, but the missile strike _should_ cause the entire horde of Grimm to disperse and give the hacker a tight window to escape. Any last changes he had in mind wouldn't change the fact that his airship was about to rain hell in less than ten seconds.

Across the battlefield, SK struggled under the weight of the Beringel that had him pinned. All the while, he could hear Tanner's agonising screams of pain, and it was torturous to hear – despite how little he knew of the swordsman. It had yet to end him, which was a good sign, but at the same time there was no conceivable way that the rogue could escape from its grasp. That was, until several red reticles began appearing in his vision, overlapping on the Beringel's scarred face one at a time before four reticles overlapped on the same spot while the message 'Target Locked' appeared beneath it. Tilting his head to the side, the rogue's eyes widened when he saw that his bracer was already primed to fire. SK's gaze flitted back to the Grimm on top of him before the rogue twisted his wrist, causing four micro-missiles to go wide. The Beringel stared on in confusion as they made a wide arc and failed to react in time as each struck the side of its face.

With its concentration broken and its grip loosened, SK quickly took the opportunity to turn invisible and escape from its grasp, rolling across the ground to his sword. Once he had it in his hands, the rogue used the momentum from the roll to spring back to his feet and mount the staggered Grimm. Using his off-hand to hold himself steady, SK began slashing at it with his falchion while it tried to strike and throw him off.

The rogue kept moving in order to avoid getting hit by the beast, but he never let up his assault on it. After a few more slashes and quick jabs, the Vacuo-born teen eventually put some distance between himself and the creature. It didn't last as the Beringel leapt into the air and prepared to slam its fists into the ground where SK stood. The Grimm conveyed too much with its wind up, however, and SK was able to read it like a script. Quickly side-stepping out of the way, the rogue let the Beringel deliver its attack only to run along its arms and deliver a killing blow to its head, running his sword through its skull.

With a quick series of backwards steps, SK withdrew his falchion from the Grimm's head as its body collapsed to the ground. Only after he let out a breath of exhaustion did the rogue notice the abundance of Grimm that had surrounded him.

As Tanner let out another cry of agony, SK could do nothing – as much as he wished he could do – but defend himself for the moment, resting the flat side of his blade on his bracer as he got into a battle stance.

That was, until he heard to sound of rockets overhead.

Seemingly out of nowhere a series of small missile bombarded the area where the Grimm were closely packed with several rounds of machinegun fire following it to cause the Grimm to scatter.

Mason looked on as the gunship performed its run, giving a cheer every time a missile caused a particularly large explosion. He watched on with gleeful anticipation as the rain of fire came closer towards him, standing perfectly in the way of the ship's attack path. With his arms spread wide and all the Grimm around too occupied with running away from the oncoming fire, the berserker stood perfectly still while small-scale ordinance rained around him and kicked up chunks of dirt.

Miraculously, not a single bullet or missile hit the redhead, but the explosions left his hair, face and outfit caked in dirt and smoke.

"Pssh, that was a little disappointing." Mason grumbled as he lowered his arms to his side, before spinning anti-clockwise on his left leg to drive both his weapons through the skull of a Creep.

"All team members, this is T." Tanner heard through the earpiece in his right ear as the Alpha Beowulf on top of him was blasted off by a series of bullets to its back. Even Cinder lost her footing and had to take cover behind a barricade of glass that she created with a wave of her hand. Seeing the opportunity, Tanner stumbled to his feet as blood ran down his arms and covered his outfit, winching in pain whenever he applied pressure to his hands. "Overwatch is going around for a second bombing run. Once it's done, it'll descend low enough for an airborne extraction." Rolling out of the way of a missile, the swordsman inadvertently found his sabre, which pointed towards his missing firearm. "If you're not on board the Bullhead when it takes off, I'm not coming back for you."

Even his grip on his weapons was not strong, but it was tight enough for him to slit an oncoming Beowulf's throat open. _Shit, I can't depend on my sword-skills like this. Looks like I'll need to use Dust instead._ The brunette thought as he sheathed his pistol and fished around his pockets and belt for any Dust vials or crystals he still had on-hand. With bloodstains on his coat and under shirt, the swordsman drew out a yellow glass vial and popped the cap off with his sword.

What little Aura he had left went into clotting the blood still bleeding out of his arms, leaving only just enough to charge up the Dust, but not enough to make it volatile. Using whatever strength he had left, Tanner threw its contents at the ash-haired woman who was too preoccupied trying to ward off the Grimm around her while subsequently protecting herself from the air strike.

When the powdered Dust struck Cinder, it sent her tumbling back with the force of an Ursa's punch.

Behind him, T had successfully been able to break free from Neo's hold after the first salvo of fire, the illusionist too busy protecting herself from bullets with her parasol. Finally free, the cyborg drew his pistol and began dispatching Grimm with precise headshots – assisted with the help of his cybernetic eye – as he moved towards where Overwatch was going to perform its extraction, all the while keeping a clear line of sight on Neo.

Meanwhile, SK was conserving his Aura while sprinting between Grimm to make it to Tanner, who was struggling against a small group of Creeps. Fighting defensively, the Creeps were completely unaware of the rogue sneaking up behind them in all the confusion. After a few precise stabs, the first Creep dropped to the floor. The second and third followed with a focused beam of energy, drawing the last's attention to SK and giving Tanner a chance to lob off its head with one swipe.

"Come on, the airship's about to perform its second strike!" the black-haired teen shouted as he put an arm under the brunette's shoulder to help him walk.

"I can walk fine!" Tanner shot back as he shrugged off SK's attempt to help him. "I just need you to cover me – not sure how well I can fight with my arms…"

"Behind you! Duck!" SK shouted as Raiden came in for a horizontal slash at Tanner's blind-side. The brunette complied immediately as the rogue held out his falchion to catch the shadowcaster's longsword. "Go, I've got this!"

Instead of leaving though, the swordsman withdrew a round from his belt and slammed it into Raiden's lower torso with his palm, sending the teen back with a blast of ice. The resulting ice formation trapped the dark-haired teen against the ground. "That won't hold him for long, let's go!"

Grimm constantly tried to cut them off, but they were able to fend them off or evade them until they reached the designated extraction point. Overwatch was already beginning its second attack run as Cinder and the others began trying to shoot it down. Most of the shots and projectiles bounced off the Bullhead's hull, but some of Cinder's fireballs were able to nearly shake it off its trajectory.

Between the Grimm that took poor swings at her and the few shots T was taking at her, however, Cinder was only able to get three shots off at the airship, effectively doing nothing to it.

Though the Grimm were more prepared for it this time, it didn't do much to save many of them from the barrage of missiles and lead rounds that tore through them.

"That's our ride." Tanner muttered under his breath, placing a hand against the ground and erecting an obsidian barricade. "Mason, get over here or we're leaving without you!" he yelled into his communicator.

"Hella, freakin' yeah! Time to extract like a badass!" he heard the redhead shout in response as the two could see his form barreling towards them through all the Grimm.

* * *

T was gambling against time and his own life. The hacker constantly kept his eyes on the multicolored girl just a few feet away from him while fending off the Grimm that kept trying to tear him apart.

However, with his attention focused solely on her, T left himself vulnerable to attacks from the Grimm and from Mercury, who had appeared in the fray of things determined to be the one to deal the final blow.

Without hesitation, T quickly used Pacify to throw the grey-haired boy off-balance for just a moment, but it was enough to disorientate the teen. Unused to the sudden change in brain-pressure, the speedster was unable to right himself as T weaved in between Grimm towards Neo.

Coincidentally, none of the Grimm around him attacked the speedster as he got back to his feet.

With her back to the cyborg for just a second in order to drive her rapier through the eye-socket of a Creep, T sprung on the opportunity; closing the distance in a second and locking her head in between his arms.

"I don't have time for this." He muttered into her ear as he tightened his lock on Neo's neck, constricting the heterochromatic girl's trachea. "You're coming with me – now!" with his one metal arm locking her in place, T used his free arm to draw his pistol and take calculated headshots at any Grimm that got too close. He made sure to take a glance all around him before moving to the extraction site, making mental notes about the position of every creature of Grimm around them.

Through an algorithm he had downloaded onto the implant on his brain, the hacker was able to predict when one of the Beowulves around them would charge forward to kill them both. A timer ticked down in his mind as the Beowulf sprinted towards them under the cover of T's blind spot right behind him. However, as soon as his Aura began to send subtle danger warnings, he stuck the handgun out behind him and fired without turning around, counting on the aim-assist to do the targeting for him.

When no Beowulf barreled into them, T guessed that the system either worked perfectly, or there was never a Beowulf to begin with.

After having only moved a few steps, Neo was beginning to squirm relentlessly and kept trying to dig her elbows into T's side. Initially ignoring it, the hacker's muscle reflex caused him to involuntarily bash her on the side of her head with the hilt of his pistol after a particularly hard blow to the chest. T immediately regretted the decision, but decided to work with it as it seemed to have knocked the illusionist out.

With both hands, the cyborg hoisted the petite girl onto his shoulder and carried her across the battlefield as his Bullhead cleared the way for him with machinegun fire. With their escape all but certain, T was confident – without a doubt – that they were going to make it, and the mission would be a complete success. Due to the amount of cover fire that Overwatch had to provide for them, however, T also calculated that the airship did not have enough firepower remaining to carpet-bomb the area, so he would have to settle for letting Cinder getting away.

It wasn't that big of a deal; T could always just find her again. There was nowhere in Remnant the ash-haired woman could hide from him now, not even in Mistral.

However, just as he thought victory was assured, another complication posed itself.

It was as if the finish line to his race had been moved another hundred metres away – just as his metaphorical legs were about to give out. Tanner, who had been resting on one knee, saw him approaching from about a metre and a half away while the rogue and the berserker provided cover with the mixture of their fighting styles. Without hesitation, the brunette had drawn his pistol, readying his last shot – as T had counted – to fire on Neo. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Target is secured, ready for extraction." He said, more to Overwatch than to the swordsman.

"Target? You never said anything about the pink and brown murderess! I thought Cinder was the target!" Tanner continued to yell as T put her down so that he had both his hands free. She was shifting about restlessly in her unconscious state, and the hacker knew it wouldn't be long before she woke up.

"I'm not asking you to _think_ , I'm asking you to do as I say." T stated as he swapped out for his last clip of bullets.

"Well I say we kill her now!" Tanner's voice was full of rage as he lined up his pistol with her head and pulled the trigger.

The thunderclap-like noise that his flintlock made woke Neo up because of how close it was, but that was all it did as T batted the gun out of the way at the last split-second, causing the bullet to explode when it hit the ground a few inches away. The cyborg had closed the distance faster than Neo, Tanner or even he could have imagined, as neither of the other two had registered what had just happened until a couple seconds had passed.

When it did, Tanner turned his rage-fueled glare at the cyborg as Neo disappeared in a flash of light. "What the fuck was that for? I had her!" he shouted over the roar of Overwatch's engines. T didn't even flinch when Tanner struck him in the chest with the barrel of his flintlock.

"You just cost us the mission." He muttered back in response as the Bullhead's doors opened to allow them to step on.

"Don't think you can just walk away from me this time!" Tanner continued as he stepped in front of T, blocking the hacker's path. Whatever the swordsman was going to say next died in his throat, however, as T roughly grabbed one of injured wrists and squeezed hard, causing Tanner to stumble backwards when T followed it up with a hard shove.

"I don't have time to deal with your crap right now – get on the airship!" T's crisp order went ignored for a few seconds as the two glared at each other, broken only a shrill voice crackled through the air like a whip.

"Enough!" suddenly, in only a few seconds, the battlefield fell eerily quiet. The two first looked to SK, who was staring down the length of his falchion as he held it in its beam-rifle form. Then, their gaze went to the horde of Grimm surrounding them, who were no longer looking their way, but at Cinder.

The ash-haired woman stood with rigid shoulders, panting heavily from exertion with her blades in her hands as she wretched them from the dying body of an Ursa. "I am your master, and you will obey me." She said in her normal tone. Usually, only T and Mason would be able to hear her thanks to their enhanced hearing, but because the battlefield had fallen absolutely silent – aside from the buzz of Overwatch's engines, the half-Maiden's words carried clearly across the distance between them.

Seconds passed as she redirected her furious stare from one Grimm to the other, before they begun dipping their heads in acknowledgement. _This isn't good._ T thought. With hindsight, the hacker would learn that the gesture was one of the many ways the Grimm showed acknowledgement and respect to those they had to obey. Now though, T could only come to one conclusion.

"Get on the airship." He repeated to Tanner. This time, the swordsman didn't argue as he scrambled to his feet and got on board the ship. "We're leaving – now!" he barked at SK, who nodded in understanding as he began firing off concentrated beams at the nearest Grimm.

From where he stood, he saw Cinder give the gesture for the horde to descend upon them – the point of a single finger. Now, the Grimm fought with purpose as they descended on him and his Bullhead. "Overwatch, take off – now!" as soon as he gave the order, the airship's engines throttled to full power as he smashed the wall button to deploy the door turret.

The weapon popped up after a couple of seconds and T quickly mounted it to mow down the Grimm on his side of the airship. Many were pouring in and had a firm latch on the airship's side, preventing it from leaving the ground. Overwatch's defensive protocols kicked in at that moment, and the artificial intelligence began spinning the Bullhead in an anti-clockwise rotation as its forward guns tore through the Grimm around it that were trying to tear through the hull.

Running the probabilities through his head, the odds weren't looking good for them, until Tanner stepped up to his side. In one hand, he held a brightly glowing shard of yellow Dust. One look at T and the hacker understood what he was planning. With a wind-up, the brunette hurled the shard forward, which exploded in a field of static as T shot it.

The pulse it gave off caused many of the Grimm to lose their hold on the airship, which caused it to suddenly jerk upwards before stabilizing its flight.

They had already gained suitable altitude by the time Cinder's team began firing on them again, however, from such a range, the shots harmlessly pinged off the side of the ship, none coming close enough to T as he remained on the turret while the autopilot took them away. However, one of Cinder's glass arrows was able to stick itself along the hull of the Bullhead, right beneath one of its engines. At first, T thought little of it – just another pot-shot that she had tried to take – until a high-pitch noise like the voice of a siren could be heard. The resounding explosion that followed wasn't enough to knock the airship out of the sky, but it made the whole ship dip to one side.

For a normal Bullhead model, that exploding arrow would have blown the airship out of the sky. However, Overwatch had been reinforced with high-grade plating that could sustain a direct hit by a frag grenade.

"Mason, take the turret!" T commanded as he moved to take manual control over the ship's flight.

"I can already hear them screaming!" Mason shouted back in acknowledgement as T climbed into the pilot's seat and deactivated autopilot, throttling the engines. The whole time, proximity warnings were going off; warning him about an incoming flock of small Nevermores.

In the passenger's compartment of the airship, Tanner was sitting on the floor with his back to the wall of the ship. Though things were still hectic, the comfort of being in an airship and speeding away from danger let the brunette drop his guard in order to inspect his wounds.

His blood had thoroughly soaked through the sleeves of his shirt, colouring the orange fabric of his undershirt blackish-red. He had already taken off his overcoat when he began to roll up his sleeves, wincing at the sight of the deep wounds in his flesh left behind by the Beowulf's sharp teeth.

"We'd better treat it quickly to avoid infection." SK stated further back in the airship as he began rummaging through a storage locker for something. Tanner, who felt too light-headed to protest, only looked on as the onyx-haired boy pulled out a medical kit and moved to kneel next to him. "Don't worry, I've done this before. First, we need to stop the bleeding."

The sound of machineguns rattled on as Tanner raised a hand to untie the scarf around his neck. "This can help with that." He said softly as the brunette gingerly wrapped one of his wrists with the silky fabric. He would worry about the blood later, but right now, he needed to focus whatever Aura and strength was returning to him.

Closing his eyes, Tanner felt the scarf begin to light up as his Aura coursed through it, creating a soothing heat that slowly grew slightly uncomfortable. With gritted teeth, Tanner pressed on while SK could only look on in amazement as the glow dimmed before fading.

When he untangled the scarf around his wrist, SK's jaw dropped open when the rogue saw that all the blood had disappeared; not a drop on it on his skin or the scarf. The wounds had also been slightly cauterized, which solved the problem of disinfecting the site. They still wept, so SK considered just giving him an anti-septic just in case. "Yeah, I know." Tanner breathed out as sweat dripped down the side of his face and he repeated the process with his other hand. "Bet you've never seen first-aid like that before?"

"I'll admit, that looks handy." The rogue commented just as the airship hit some turbulence – _At least I think it's turbulence_ , causing him to nearly lose his footing. After stabilizing himself with his free hand, SK pulled out the spray-can of disinfectant and popped the cap to spray it on Tanner's arms. Before he could, the brunette took the can from his hand and began spraying it himself.

"I can take care of myself." He grunted out as the stimulating foam began to do its work.

SK remained where he was for a second before getting back up. "Keep pressure on your elbow joints – it'll reduce the bleeding." Stepping over to the open hatch where Mason was still firing rounds after rounds of the machinegun at nothing in particular. Peering down the aft of the Bullhead, the rogue saw that one of the engines was trailing smoke, and that a couple large Nevermores were still on them, but easily out of range of fire. Though, the onyx-haired boy couldn't be sure if they were putting more distance between them or not.

"Hey, T!" SK called back over the roar of the wind and the machinegun.

"I know – hang on!" T called back and without further warning, made a hard right with the airship, putting the two by the hatch within direct line of sight with the Nevermores.

By the shift in momentum and the rapidly approaching Nevermore, SK could also only guess that they had slowed to a hover. Rounds from the machinegun chewed through the wings and hard feathers as SK drew his blade and opened it up into its rifle form. Taking aim, SK waited a beat before firing a white-hot beam into one of the Nevermore's face, blackening it and causing the large Grimm to lose its course. He repeated the process with the other, burning through one of its wings and causing it to fall out of the sky.

"We're clear!" SK called back once more. "That means you can stop wasting bullets!" He scolded the berserker as he kept hammering on the turret. His fun was cut short, however, when the gun retracted into the floor and wall as the hatch closed shut.

The airship jostled and lurched forward as SK sheathed his falchion back into its scabbard and the redhead slumped to the floor in disappointment. Everyone quickly found their footing SK breathed a solemn sigh of relief.

 _All that firepower, all that planning, and we still lost._ The Vacuo-born thought as T stepped out of the cockpit.

 _Total mission failure._ T began his after-action memo. _Near-zero enemy casualties._ He looked to Tanner, who was bandaging his arms but still glaring at him. _One friendly casualty. Need to reassess the situation for further reference._

"I think you owe us an explanation."

* * *

 **Same time…**

The uproar of Grimm had just begun to quiet, and Cinder was just starting to get a grip on them when the shadowcaster _just had_ to act out.

Everyone had formed a tight circle within the horde of Grimm, waiting patiently as Cinder concentrated on her control over them. It wasn't complete, and she still needed practice, but at least they knew who their master was.

They all seemed very restless, however, and it unsettled the members of the group. "Cinder, what's going on?" Emerald asked.

"Quiet!" she snapped back. "I'm concentrating." She stated as she held her arms out, reaching to control the strongest member of the horde. From what she had learned from Her, the half-Maiden knew that the best way to control a horde was to control the strongest member of the horde. From there, the influence would trickle down until that one hold would give her a hundred holds.

Just as she was beginning to gain control over the present horde, a large cloud passed under the sun, casting a shadow over the clearing.

"Oh, yeah." Raiden said with a toothy grin as the shadows began condensing around him, causing the shadow he cast to become even darker. "I can work with this."

"Raiden, don't-"

"Get down!" he yelled as he reached into his coat black jacket and pulled out two sawed-off shotguns. Trails of shadows flitted and spread out from him as he began spinning around and firing everywhere, drawing power from the massive shadow he was in.

The others had done what he told them, and watched as he fired shell after shell at the Grimm surrounding them, ripping through their hides like bullets through cardboard.

As he span faster and faster, it almost seemed from the outside that Raiden had become one with the shadows and was able to create more arms and guns from out of the dark fog, as the Grimm around them were cut down like grass.

"Die! Die! Die!" he chanted as he fired off in every direction, using the shadows casted by the shadow shells he fired to reload his shotguns as they snapped open and closed with the reflex of a butterfly knife.

In seconds, the horde of Grimm had been almost completely culled, as the remaining Grimm retreated into the forests around them. Once the shadows around him parted, Raiden collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. "Nailed it."

Cinder did not share in his delight, however, as she stalked over to grab him by his collar and hoist him up to meet her eyes. "You wasted your Aura meaninglessly! I had control over them."

"I've seen what the Grimm can do." Raiden droned on as his eyes struggled to open. "I've seen others try to control them. It doesn't work, they'll turn on us the second you let your guard down."

With what strength she still had, the ash-haired woman tossed Raiden's limp body to the side and let him roll around in the torn up dirt. "You have disobeyed me time and time again. The only reason you're still alive if because I want you to bring me T and his friends – alive!" she ranted angrily. "We're going back to the compound to see the progress of preparations. Return with them or don't return at all. If you aren't back by noon tomorrow, I will hunt you down and kill you. You will never know rest, never know safety!"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it; bring them back or die blah blah blah!" Raiden said as he mimicked his words with a hand gesture while getting back to his feet. "I get 'em for you." He said as he turned his back on her and began walking in the direction the airship had flown off. Cinder purposely ignored the remark he made about her being a "Psycho bitch" when he thought she couldn't hear him, knowing that a day would come when she would make him pay.

"Let's go." Cinder told the others as she began walking off in the direction they had come from, involuntarily swinging her hips like she always did as the corpses of Fallen Grimm around them disintegrated.

"Of all the people T had to recruit." Mercury began. "How'd he end up with those three?"

"I don't know – and it doesn't matter." Cinder countered. "They'll all fall, just the same."

"Seems like they're harder to kill than we thought." Mercury muttered under his breath.

"Do you think Raiden will be enough to bring all four of them in?" Emerald asked curiously.

"No." Cinder replied honestly. "But knowing them, they can't work together for longer than a week – they'll tear each other apart." She said with a confident smirk. "Raiden will just make sure that they can't be put back together." As the ash-haired woman said this, she looked at Neo, who simply stared forward with a determined look.

 _Good, she understands who she serves._ The smirk on her face remained. "Then, when he brings them back to us, we can grind them into dust ourselves."


	25. Chapter 20

Split At Twilight

 **A/N: Before we begin, I'd like to present the readers with a question. There have been many interpretations of what Summer Rose's weapons were when she was still alive. There's been much debate about it, and through it all, I can't seem to decide which one I like best. In any case, if the canon doesn't reveal anything, I'll have to come up with one myself and deal with it when the canon proves me wrong. Anyway, I've started a poll on my Fanfiction page about what time of weapon you think she used. By the end of the year, I'm hoping to have tallied up enough votes to come to a conclusion. Believe me, it seems drawn out, but that's the rate I work at. If your idea of what kind of weapon she has isn't on the poll or if you want to give me a detailed explanation, feel free to include it in a review.**

 **Anywho, onto the story!**

* * *

 **20 Minutes Later…**

The airship continued to shudder and bounce every few seconds, only adding to Tanner's stress as he unintentionally focused his hearing on the small explosions that came from the damaged engine every now and again.

Still, the brunette did his best to keep his breathing steady and channel what little Aura was returning to him into the gashes in his arms. The pain from the wounds was still intense as the constant flow of Aura made the bite-marks warmer than usual. However, thanks to the combined effort of SK's quick medical aid and the cauterising power of his scarf, the bleeding had stopped, which was always good.

A second passed before there was a crackle in his ear as someone tuned in to their earpiece. "Losing too much fuel – we won't be able to make it back to The Compound." T announced. Tanner only gave his words half a mind, as the hacker had yet to give him a proper response to his demands for answers. "I'm taking us down for repairs."

No one said anything in response, though something told Tanner that T didn't want a response from the others.

Scattered around the interior of the airship, everyone seemed to be intent on minding their own business. Towards the aft of the passenger compartment, SK seemed to be going over the brass-coloured bracer that T had given him, flicking his wrist to activate it and deactivate it. Leaning against the starboard hatch, Mason was using a sharpened stone to carve a pair of bones he had.

Tanner didn't even want to know whose bones they were.

The sudden dip of the airship downwards was a clear indicator that they were beginning their descent. With a few deep breaths, the swordsman was able to muster the strength to stand up and rest his weight against the wall of the airship to see where they were landing.

Without a clear line of sight, all the brunette was able to see for a couple of minutes were the surrounding trees, but soon, the burnt and destroyed ruins of a Mistrali village came into view.

It was only after a second did Tanner realise then that the ruins and buildings were rolling by a little too fast for a gentle landing, and braced himself at the last possible second as the Bullhead landed hard, hitting the ground hard enough to cause everyone in the passenger compartment to jump.

SK was able to catch himself before he slammed into the floor of the ship, but Mason was less prepared and ended up stabbing his palm with his own knife.

A string of curses followed as the airship eventually shuddered to a halt, having finally stopped moving completely. It took a couple of seconds for the airship to perform its rudimentary power-down sequence after landing, but as soon as it did, the hatches on either side of the airship slid open to make room for T as he jumped out of the ship without a word.

Tanner didn't even bother to watch Mason pull the knife from his hand – much less help him remove the blade. The brunette was too focussed on his task as he eased himself out of the airship and followed the cyborg around to the airship's damaged engine, where T was prying open metal panels to assess the damage.

"What the fuck was that back there?" Tanner spat as he clutched his left wrist when a twinge of pain ran up his arm. T didn't respond and instead continued with his repairs as he used his cybernetic arm to scan a damaged section of the engine. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" Tanner growled as he took a step forward to grab T by the shoulder and get his attention.

As soon as Tanner's hand touched T's shoulder, the hacker's free hand snapped onto his and twisted it around, sending a fresh surge of pain through the brunette's whole body. However, Tanner had grown used to the pain by this point and reflexively reached for his pistol and aimed it at T's chest point-blank. "Go ahead." Tanner dared through gritted teeth, trying hard to hide the pain. "I made sure to reload."

Though most of his features were covered by the scarf and cap, the brunette could still feel the intensity of T's look just from the glare he was giving – his left eye glowing slightly brighter. After a few seconds of the tense stand-off, T released his grip on the brunette as he backed off. "That's a 'need to know' basis."

"Well I feel like I need to know!" Tanner shot back, his tone clearly conveying his aggravation. "First you say kill them, then you say don't kill her; why?" he demanded while holstering his weapon.

"The girl – Neopolitan – has information regarding Cinder that could deal a critical blow to her operations." The hacker explained as he gave Tanner his undivided attention. "I've run through the scenarios hundreds of times, and there is a way to bring Cinder down in one blow, but we need what she knows."

Distrust brewed under the surface for Tanner as he shook his head and spoke in a bitter tone. "You didn't think to tell us this sooner."

"I didn't need to." T snapped back. "If things went like I had planned, then I would have been able to incapacitate Neo while-"

"While we risk our lives to cover for you?" SK suddenly interjected, having maintained distance away from the two as they argued.

"If I can bring Cinder down in one go, then what does it matter what happens to you?" T asked rhetorically after taking a few steps closer to the rogue.

"Is that how you see us? Expendable muscle?" Tanner challenged with a renewed fire in his eyes. The passion with which he fought now reflected in the current situation as what little of his Aura that was returning began to cause the scarf around his neck to glow.

T's head swivelled between the two for a few seconds before falling on Tanner. "You're not looking at the bigger picture here."

"You said you could help us get back at Cinder for turning against us." SK spoke up again. "You didn't say anything about us dying for your own vendetta against her."

"It's all the same!"

"Yeah, because what does it matter to any of us what happens to Cinder if we're dead?"

"If you can't be more transparent with us, T, then maybe I'm better off on my own." SK's words left a resounding ring in the late afternoon air. After a pause, his voice was softer when he spoke. "At least that way I'll only blame myself for betraying me." As he said this, the raven-haired teen turned his back on the two and began walking.

"Where are you going?" Tanner asked as the rogue reached for the hilt of the sword on his back.

"Scouting the area." He stated before disappearing in a walkway between two burnt buildings as he drew his falchion.

Tanner continued to stare at where the rogue had vanished for a few seconds in a hope that he might be able to see where he was going. As the cloud that was blocking out the sun passed, the surrounding ruined city suddenly got a lot brighter and the injured swordsman was forced to look away as his eyes had not adjusted to the brightness of the cobblestone floor when the sunlight hit it.

"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Tanner muttered to himself as he took in his surroundings. Along with the clearly Mistralian architecture, the place seemed long-abandoned. The charred wood and damage done to the buildings did not look recent, and the lack of bodies around the area meant that whatever happened here happened long enough ago that the Grimm have been able to pick it clean – and if not the Grimm, then something else.

"Kuroyuri, long-abandoned Mistral settlement." T stated as he went back to his work.

The brunette hesitated before speaking again. "How long?"

"Over twelve years." The cyborg replied without hesitation.

"I'm guessing this can be chocked up as the victim of a Grimm attack, huh?" Tanner asked. Though his tone was somewhat sarcastic, he knew that this was a serious matter. Despite his goals and background, the brunette still had a moral code and decided long ago that if the opportunity presented itself, he would abandon all former grudges to fight the Grimm with his enemies. When T didn't reply, Tanner took it as a positive answer and continued. "Then I'm guessing I'm not likely to find anything worth salvaging if I poked around."

Instead of replying to his question directly, T only stated, "I'm taking off as soon as repairs are finished. If you want to stay here, be my guest."

"Not me." Mason said suddenly, having been leaning against the hull of the Bullhead for the duration of their conversation while licking the blood from his hand. "I'm having the time of my life with you guys."

When T's eyes turned back to Tanner, the brunette found it hard to stare back. "Still debating it." The swordsman wasn't sure whether it was anger or confusion, though it was something of a confused-anger in his mind.

Holding his gaze for a second, T spun back to continue on his repairs as Tanner's legs slowly carried him away. "I'm going to see if I can't find anything. If you've got nothing better to do, Mars, then maybe you could go look for something to eat – preferably something that isn't Human?" he shot back over his shoulder.

As he walked away, Tanner briefly heard Mason blow a raspberry at him before shouting, "You're no fun!" In truth, the brunette needed some time to think over what had just happened, and whether or not he would allow himself to trust the hacker again.

In too many instances for his liking, Tanner had misplaced his trust in someone only for them to betray him or deal a double-cross. _Guess I should thank mum and dad for watching out for me at some of those close-calls._ He thought to himself. Every part of his instinct was telling him not to trust the guy, especially after what had just happened.

The mere thought of what had just happened sent phantom pains through his wrists, and Tanner reflexively gripped his injured wrist tightly to flood his whole arm with a blunt pain in order to drown out the feeling of the phantom pains. Now that time had passed and he had been able to assess his wounds, the brunette also realised that these cuts weren't going to heal quickly. Even if he was up to fighting standards by the end of the day, the pain would continue to linger and it would likely scar. _How am I supposed to trust someone who made me end up like this?_

But…

"It's going to be a lot harder to take down Adam without him." Tanner muttered to himself as he passed by a dead tree, running one of his hands along the cold, hard bark. "Ah, geez. What would you do in my place, dad?"

* * *

Hours had passed, and the sun had just begun to crane towards the horizon – drawing out the shadows of what remained of Kuroyuri's buildings – when T was just about done with the repairs on the Bullhead.

Without his toolkit, additional parts or help from any of his teammates, this had taken the cyborg much longer than he would have liked. T made a mental note, for the future, to find a way to circumvent this problem if it happened again; likely by finding a way to get parts and tools to him from The Compound.

For the third time since he had begun repairs, T decided to take a short break before he tested the engines once more. Staring up into the evening sky and the setting sun, the hacker's mind went back to the fight, running alternate scenarios of how it could have gone in his mind and whether or not they might have been better than what he had done.

By his estimates, this mission was but a minor setback in the grand scheme of things. He will defeat Cinder no matter what. He _will_ get Neo no matter what, and nothing was going to change that. It was an inevitable event – at least to T.

Walking back into the airship's passenger compartment, T opened a latch and reached for a small water flask that he kept in reserve. He had to pull down his face-scarf to drink any of it down, but it was just the refresher that he needed.

Staring out one of the open hatches, the hacker stopped to stare at his teammates, who had somehow got a small fire going by one of the burnt-out houses in the area.

Mason, having gone off to hunt for food as Tanner requested, was now scarfing down what looked to be a live fox, while the swordsman was taking his time slow-cooking a rabbit. It would be a while before they would trust him with anything after this, but it didn't matter. To T, it was all inconsequential; they were simply just parts of a greater conflict between Cinder and him.

Satisfied, T placed the water flask back in his emergency compartment and moved to the cockpit, where Overwatch was still active and on-display. "Engines are operational, though I would recommend against travelling any further than five kilometres to avoid further damage to the flight systems." The voice stated as the hacker climbed into his pilot's seat.

"How far is The Compound from where we are?" he asked while turning on different systems.

"Estimated seven kilometres." Overwatch stated calmly.

 _Shit._ T thought to himself as he began trying to think of a way to circumvent the problem. Staying here any longer to continue repairs was out of the question. Already, they had had a few run-ins with Grimm, and it was only getting worse the longer they remained. What's more, if they stayed in one place for too long, there was also a chance that Cinder might find them, assuming that she hasn't stopped looking for them since the encounter.

No, T would just have to risk further engine failure – assuming the engine would get up to flight capabilities in the first place.

"Throttle the engines." He told Overwatch. "But don't take her up just yet, I want to see how much she can handle."

Without a verbal response, the airship's User Interface complied with T's request as an indicator off to T's right showed the gradual acceleration of the turbines in the engines, and which engine was throttling faster.

It was clear that the undamaged engine on the left was performing much better than its counterpart, but in retrospect, the right engine was doing quite a good job keeping up with the undamaged one after the amount of damage it took.

"Aft-port engine functioning as estimated." Overwatch stated in a tone that almost sounded proud. "Pushing it any further than its current acceleration may, however, cause another blow-out."

With a huff of agreement, T manually spun the engines down as he got out of the seat. "Run the airship through pre-flight checks. We take off in five." He stated before leaving the cockpit and stepping off the airship.

The hacker made his way over to the small campfire with minimal effort, only to find Tanner by himself – checking his bandages. "The airship is ready to take off." T stated bluntly.

Tanner, who had been focussed entirely on checking his wounds again, was caught by surprise when T spoke and instinctively reached for his weapon. When he realised who it was, however, his grip on the hilt of his sabre relaxed and he let out a sigh of built-up tension. "About time." He muttered, rising to his feet.

After a quick scan of the area, T turned back to face the brunette. "Where's Mars?"

The swordsman only shrugged as he sheathed his weapons. "Said something about taking a shit, or something like that."

T tried to raise the berserker on his communicator. "Mason, do you copy? It's T, we're ready to leave."

A few seconds passed as Tanner stared at him expectantly. T tried again. "Mason, do you copy. We are leaving." He spoke slower this time to enunciate his words, wondering if there was some signal interference.

However, when no response came through again, T began to suspect that something wasn't right. His hand flew to his pistol and drew it quickly, taking another scan of the area.

"What's going on?" Tanner asked, drawing forth his sword and taking up a defensive stance.

"No response." T simply stated, before his legs started moving.

* * *

 **Five minutes ago…**

For a reason that still wasn't clear to him, Mason had taken to a bit of wandering near the edge of the village, where destroyed buildings met forests. In his absent wanderings, the berserker also took to analysing the damage done to the Human structures.

Every now and then, he would run his hand along the burnt support beams or the broken tiles before he finally came to a conclusion. "One Grimm, followed by many others. Stormed the village with little resistance. The scrubs here probably didn't have a clue how to fight. Buildings weren't set on fire deliberately." He mused while rubbing some soot in between his fingers. "Fuckers probs did it by accident and the fire spread." Suddenly, a sadistic smile spread across the redhead's lips as a sinister chuckle slipped out. "Death figures probably go past two hundred, and that's not even counting what else the Grimm might have killed."

It was then that Mason heard a rustling in the bushes, which caused him to reflexively draw his shotgun-axe and take aim. However, at the same moment, the dying light of the sun caught him in the face and shined in his vision. Unable to see what he was shooting, he changed it into its axe-form and charged forward, jumping into the bush with blind rage and hacking at whatever was there.

Swinging wildly, the redhead tore through the bush and its surrounding foliage in seconds. Only after he had made a clearing big enough for himself did he calm down. With heavy breaths, Mason looked around and spotted what he had seen moving for the first time; a medium-sized forest rat.

"What do you want from me?" he yelled at it. "Give it back!" when the corpse gave no response, Mason simply huffed and sheathed his weapons, having decided to go back the way he came.

That is, until a voice stopped him.

The voice followed shortly after a series of claps, which caused Mason to freeze where he stood. "That was pretty impressive. Not the 'hacking a bush to bits' part – the part where you figured out what hit the village."

Turning to the source of the voice, Mason found himself staring at the shadowcaster from earlier, leaning against the wall of a destroyed building, hands in his pockets casually. "Oh, thank you." Mason said with a generous bow. "Not often people recognise my skills." As he spoke, however, his hands went for the safeties of his guns. "Then again, the only people that have complimented my skills have tried to kill me so far!" as he said the last few words, the berserker drew both of his weapons and trained them on Raiden.

However, before Mason was able to swing them around in-line with where Raiden stood, something halted the berserker's arms, and he also found that he couldn't move his legs.

"Ok, I'll admit; last time, you guys surprised me. I honestly thought you'd be a lot weaker, so it's my own fault for underestimating you." As Mason tried to struggle out of the invisible bonds, he saw that there were actually tendrils of darkness that extended from the shadows of the trees around his arms and legs. "As you can guess, that's pretty much why I'm here; to fix my little mistake." Approaching at an agonisingly slow pace, the black-haired teen took the time to unlatch the longsword that hung at his back and twirl it around in his fingers so that he held the blade towards the ground. He was right in front of Mason when he next spoke. "Seriously, please don't struggle; you'll only make this harder on-" His next words were cut off instantly when Mason drew his head back and thrust it forward in a head-butt.

The force of their heads colliding together – coupled with the fact that Raiden hadn't expected it – was enough to send the shadowcaster back a few feet with a bark of pain. The sudden attack was also enough to break Raiden's concentration on his Semblance, releasing the redhead from the grasp of the dark tendrils as they dissipated into thin air.

Wasting no time, the berserker took the opportunity to drop his weapons and pounce forward on Raiden, tackling the teen to the ground and unleashing a savage onslaught of punches right to his face. "CQC, bitch!" Mason hissed through gritted teeth as his blows only got harder and faster with each successful punch.

At first, Raiden tried to reach for his blade, which lay just a few centimetres out of his reach. When that proved useless, he reared one of his fists back, creating a mass of darkness surrounding his fist before thrusting it forward at Mason.

Too occupied with beating the crap out of the shadowcaster, the redhead failed to notice the incoming attack until it hit him all along his right side, throwing him off Raiden and sending him tumbling into a tree.

His momentum was suddenly brought to a painful stop when barely-armoured back met hard wood, sending a reverberating shock through the berserker's whole body. Mason did not let this deter him, however, and tried to get back up on his feet as soon as the shock passed. Raiden reacted faster, raising his left hand despite otherwise remaining perfectly still along the ground and channelling his Aura through it. By extending power through his Semblance, the shadowcaster was able to create claws of darkness from the shadow cast by the tree and pull Mason down faster than he could get up, using an extra claw to slam his head against a rock for good measure.

As the redhead tried to shake the ringing out of his ears and silence the throbbing pain in his head – which was as loud as thunder, he struggled to move against his dark bindings as Raiden slowly got to his feet. With a grunt of pain, the black-haired teen raised a hand to his face to wipe away the trickle of blood that ran down his nose and into his mouth.

His facial features twisted into a snarl as he looked between the smear of blood on his hand and the berserker that had caused it, shaking his head as he approached. "I was going to make this quick and easy," he began as he bent down to pick his sword off the ground. "-I've got a lot better things to do with my time than clean up Cinder's shit pile. Now, however," the tone of his voice dropped as he stood above Mason, running his fingers along the length of the sword's blade. "-now I'm going to make this easy for me, and painful for you."

All the while, Mason continued to struggle against the shadows that held him down, only succeeding at making them hold him down even tighter. "Go ahead, I like the pain." Mason spat back defiantly.

Raiden's snarl twisted into a smirk at that. "Oh, I intend to." He breathed as he crouched down and brought the pommel of the longsword on Mason's head.

* * *

 **Three minutes later…**

T waited a heartbeat before turning around the corner of a building, finding nothing where he swore he heard a noise from. A quick twist of his head confirmed that there was no sign of the redhead in the area. Not even his cybernetic eye could pick up a trace of him.

With a sigh, T put his hand to his earpiece. "Tanner, report in." he ordered while continuing to scan the area. The hacker's voice was terse, like a steam engine building up pressure, and he was mentally prepared to kill at a moment's notice.

"Still nothing." Tanner replied over the radio. "Fucking hell, where'd he go?"

"That's what I'm worried about." T muttered after cutting his end of the line. Continuing his careful sweep of the area, T never once lowered his pistol, always training it on a target with his finger ghosting over the trigger. The shadows cast by the setting sun threw off his aim somewhat, but it was corrected by his enhanced eye-sight.

While also searching for any sign of Mason, T constantly kept one eye on the treeline on his left, having agreed with Tanner to search the perimeter while the swordsman made a sweep of the area within the town's borders. Having run the probabilities through his head, the chances were high that they were not alone out here, and that this unknown interloper had gotten to Mason.

It was around this time that T began to regret having allowed SK to walk away, as the search time and chances of them losing a fight would have tremendously decreased with the rogue's presence, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Instead, the hacker remained vigilant, which is why he sprung like a spring when a reflection of light caught his eye.

His whole body twisted in the direction the glare of light came from, gun aimed directly at its source. It took T half a second to register that the source of light was not an animate threat, and was instead the reflection off something on the ground. Lowering his pistol without lowering his guard, the hacker walked over to the object on the ground only to grow more concerned with what he found.

Among the cracked cobblestone and dirt lay the berserker's weapons, seemingly scattered apart by a metre. Bending down, T picked up the sword the redhead uses and immediately notices how greasy the hilt feels in the grasp of his normal hand. With a quick flick of the wrist, he transforms the weapon into its heavy pistol-mode and slips it into a free slot on the right side of his belt.

 _Mars hardly travels more than a few paces out of his weapons' reach._ T thought to himself as he picked up the notched axe that the redhead uses, feeling its weight for the first time in his prosthetic arm. _Which can only mean one thing…_

With his off-hand, T reached for his earpiece before speaking. "Vermillion, regroup back at the airship. Things have gone south." The hacker continued to hold the battle-axe in his right hand as he made his way back to the airship. However, when no response came over after a minute, T's worry doubled. "Tanner, do you copy?" he asked again, only to be met with silence.

A wave of paranoia swept over T in that moment, and he was compelled to make a quick check of his surroundings. For now, everything seemed quiet, but he knew how that could change at any moment. As if on cue, two shots rang out into the air, echoing down multiple of the pathways of the village.

Unable to discern exactly from where the shots came from, T pulled out his Scroll and activated the locator system that he had rigged up. The quality of the locator system was a little blurry because of how far out of Scroll range they were, but it worked well enough that he could locate Tanner, Mason and-

Wait.

The hacker mentally slapped himself for not thinking about using the locator first to find Mason, as it would have resolved the issue without them having to slip up or-

T shook his head, refusing to live in the past. Instead, he broke into a sprint in the direction the wavering locator was telling him that the swordsman currently was. Ignoring the point on the locator near the treeline which indicated where the redhead was, the hacker made a beeline for where Tanner's indicator continued to blink. Without a system similar to that of the Huntsmen Team Interface – which allowed teammates to see the others' heart-rate and Aura levels, T had no way of knowing what condition Tanner was in – something he intended to rectify in the near-future.

Before he was able to reach the locator beacon, however, T felt a chill run up his spine and saw movement in his peripheral vision. Acting completely on calculated reflex, the hacker stopped and pivoted in the direction he had noticed the movement, raising his prosthetic arm and the battle-axe in his grasp to block any oncoming attack. A satisfying clang rang out into the empty village around him as Raiden descended for a diagonal plunge, catching his longsword in Bas' blade.

The shadowcaster offered a smirk as he practically bounced backwards from the impact. "Have to say, you and your buddies aren't as tough as I thought. Y'know, after Cinder and her bitches soften you up." He looked like he was about to continue further, but had to stop when T fired off three rounds at him to raise his longsword to block each of the shots.

Without letting up his assault, the hacker charged forward with the axe drawn back, bringing it forward in a heavy swing when he got in range of the black-haired teen. Steel clashed against blackened steel as T got used to the weight and feel of the new weapon in his hand.

Admittedly, even after having reviewed Mason's fighting style and carefully analysed how the berserker fights in order to decide how to best mimic and counter his style, it did not compare to actually having the weight of the weapon in his hands and swinging it at an enemy.

For the better part of the fight, the combination of T's inexperience and understanding of fighting with a battle-axe caught Raiden by surprise, presenting the shadowcaster with a different fighting style to what T exhibited earlier as he took low sweeps at his legs and rising crescent strikes.

However, Raiden quickly caught on to the fact that T's attacks were clumsy and sloppy, suddenly turning the tide of the battle when he went in for fast strikes as well as switching in between weapon modes to confuse T.

Prolonging the fight only served to make T get better at using the axe, however, as the hacker slowly began to understand how the weapon worked, before finally managing to catch the shadowcaster's sword in the crescent curve of the axe-blade. With both hands, he brought the interlocked weapons down to his feet, coming face to face with the smirking teen.

"I'll admit, you're quite the challenge. I didn't expect someone like you to last as long as you have against-" Raiden was cut off from what he was trying to say, however, when T brought up his left arm for an uppercut to the man's jaw, sending him backwards and disoriented as T flung both weapons away.

"And I didn't expect you to talk so much." T muttered as he threw punch after punch at the unarmed Raiden, sending him backwards with each blow. This tactic worked, for a whole of four seconds before the shadowcaster began ducking and blocking the blows sent his way.

"Didn't you get the memo?" he asked rhetorically as his back leg slid backwards. It was only when T did a double take did he realise that it wasn't because of his own strength, but it was an intentional tactic in order to come in contact with the shadow of a tree and draw on its power. The dark energy swirled and surged up his body all the way to his arms as Raiden's amber eyes darkened. "I'm all about the talk."

Suddenly, the shadowcaster backed out of the engagement only to lower both his hands to his waist and thrust them forward, creating a pulse of shadows that threw T backwards. The hacker was sent sprawling through the air momentarily before hitting the cobblestone once, then righting himself by jamming his feet into the ground.

"Because I can walk the walk." Raiden continued as T drew both pistols at his side and unleashed their firepower on him. In response, the black-haired teen raised both his hands to create a wall of darkness in front of him. "And when you walk the walk, you talk the _talk_."

As soon as he said this, Raiden dropped the wall in front of him and formed a submachine-gun in each of his hands. The rounds that the guns fired were as black as night and disappeared the second they hit T. His one prosthetic arm was not enough to block all the shots sent his way, and the hacker briefly considered creating a wall with either Obsidian Dust or Ice Dust. However, T had had enough of this fight and wanted to end it now.

With his right armed raised defensively, T holstered his pistol before extending his left open palm and concentrating his Aura to manifest as his Semblance. The effects were instantaneous; at once, Raiden's guns stopped firing and quickly dematerialised as he dropped to the ground on his knees. The shadowcaster's hands went to his head, clenching it hard in the headache T knew he was experiencing right now.

Slowly, battling his own headache, T began to advance forward with his pistols drawn forth and aimed straight at the midnight-haired teen. From this distance, the headache was making it harder to aim, and rather than wasting bullets, T was closing in so that each shot would meet its mark.

The first shot he fired bounced off the cobblestone next to Raiden, just a few centimetres from actually hitting him. Internally cursing, T tried to focus on steadying his aim while also maintaining his grip on his Semblance. Raiden was one of the more 'mentally strong' opponents that T had ever had to us Pacify on, and it was showing in the exertion and strain the hacker felt.

Readjusting his aim, T fired off a second shot and watched as it hit the shadowcaster's shoulder and caused his Aura to ripple, absorbing all of the damage as it caused him to stagger slightly.

T, however, failed to notice the fact that Raiden was gathering shadows in his right hand, focusing entirely on keeping his Semblance up and adjusting his aim. From his position on both his hands and knees, the midnight-haired teen raised his right arm over his head and it was then that the hacker noticed what he was doing. Still, he was too late to stop Raiden from slamming his hand against the ground and causing a pitch-black smokescreen that seemed to suck the light around it to explode outwards from where his fist met the ground, covering the area around them.

Without the target in his direct line of sight, T's Semblance was useless against the shadowcaster and he quickly brought his left hand down to draw his other pistol to make up for it. In fact, he couldn't see anything at all. Even with his enhanced vision and three-dimensional environment mapping, the darkness through off his sense of surroundings and made it impossible to see anything that wasn't right in front of his face. The fog around him absorbed all traces of light and essentially left him in complete darkness.

Relying only on his hearing, T kept his guard up while trying to shine some light into the darkness by way of his cybernetic eye, which emitted a light like a torch. It was the same for the light he gave off; the darkness around him absorbed it like a sponge in water and it did nothing but waste energy.

T didn't have to worry long though, for the darkness around him suddenly began to dissipate as if it were being sucked up by something. It was only when he looked in the direction that the shadows were being drawn did he realise that they were being drawn to Raiden – specifically the two swords made from solid shadows in his hands.

The shadowcaster had already broken into a sprint when the fog began to lift, and T only had a second to raise his right arm and the barrel of his pistol to intercept the strike. When the blades hit, they did not make the same sound as what the hacker would associate with steel against steel. Instead, it sounded more like some kind of dense wood hitting metal, and made a dull sound.

After the initial clash, Raiden suddenly pulled out of the engagement again in a backflip, throwing one of the swords at T in his motion. Without thinking, the hacker raised his prosthetic arm to bat the projectile out of his way. Instead of deflecting like a normal sword, the shadowy weapon seemed to melt against his arm when it hit him at full speed – covering it up from the heavy pistol in his hand to his shoulder like some kind of putty – before pulling him to the ground. T followed through with the force of being suddenly yanked by the arm and found himself on his knee, unable to get up as the shadows around his arm formed anchored chains to the ground.

From where he was kneeling, he could see that Raiden was directly controlling the shadows that had snared his arm, and tried to break free by firing at its master. With the sword in his other hand, however, the shadowcaster blocked each bullet that T sent his way until the pistol's clip clicked dry.

 _Shit._ T cursed internally as Raiden slowly began his march forward. "You're pretty good – I'll give you that." The teen complimented mockingly with each step he took closer. "I haven't had a serious challenge in a while where I _actually_ thought I might lose. But no, you almost got me a couple of times." As he said this, the shadows on T's arm gradually spread to his right leg as well, anchoring his whole right side to the ground. However, with his one good arm, the hacker managed to release the empty clip in his pistol and slide it over one of the extra clips he had magnetically attached to his belt.

Before he was able to line up a shot, Raiden was already on him. The dark sword in his right hand dissipated into thin air as the jet-black haired teen jerked his hand forward to grab a hold of T's wrist and redirect his aim. T fired three shots into the air helplessly before Raiden smacked him across the face with his own hand, the gun _also_ still in his hand.

The cyborg also found himself suddenly free of the shadow anchors that had pinned his arm and leg to the ground, falling onto his side as Raiden brought a boot down on his gut. The last of his Aura did its best to absorb the blow, but now he was without a shield, and it showed when traces of sky-blue flickered across his body before disappearing.

"Woo! You're a fighter, aren't you?" Raiden asked rhetorically with a chuckle, bringing his other foot down on the hacker's chest before pivoting to kick the gun in his left hand out of his reach. "I don't think I've ever fought someone so beaten who still fought like he had a chance." The shadowcaster said smugly, the smirk evident on his face.

Even so, T fought past the pain and negative probabilities and the fact that he had no Aura left, still determined to go down fighting. He raised the heavy pistol that was still in his right hand, but didn't do so fast enough before Raiden brought his boot down on T's head and the world went black.


	26. Chapter 21

**A/N: Just in time for Monty's birthday (no, I didn't cram in the extra hours on purpose - what are you talking about?). All the same, I'll keep trying to write more in one go, or at least write more frequently.**

Means to an End

 **One hour later…**

When Tanner finally regained consciousness, he had a throbbing headache and an aches all over his body - like he had been thrashed about. It was only when he tried to sit up and bring his hands forward did he remember that he _had_ been thrashed about.

The mercenary, Raiden, had slipped out of the shadows and caught the swordsman by surprised. He was able to fight back, but was quickly overpowered because of his still-injured wrists. Raiden had quickly disarmed him and knocked him to the ground; causing the earpiece that T had given him to come loose and prevented him from calling for help.

However, Tanner had been able to fire off a couple shots from his pistol wildly in order to let the others know that he was in trouble before getting knocked out. He had hoped T could have beaten him, but now?

Now the brunette was sitting in the back of some kind of carrier vehicle with his arms tied behind his back.

Though they were heavy, Tanner was still able to open his bright orange eyes and take a quick sweep of the interior of the rumbling carrier. One of the things he picked up on immediately was the fact that both T and Mason were also here. On his left, the redhead had been bound from head to toe, gagged and muzzled, and was flanked on either side of the carried by armed members of the White Fang.

 _Shit. They have us._ Tanner thought as he turned to see that T was flanked similarly, though instead of four guards, two guards and Raiden stood by, watching him. The cyborg's arms were cuffed in front of him, though there was another strange contraption that seemed to be magnetically stuck to his robot arm, which the brunette guessed was some sort of device that prevented it from working.

Tanner also felt something that shouldn't be there on his upper right arm. Though he couldn't see it very well without turning his head, it felt like a metallic bracelet or clasp of some sort, and that usually meant one thing: Aura Restraint.

Such devices and how they worked was common knowledge for the swordsman – considering his background; you slap it on someone at it prevents their Aura from reaching a level higher than what you allow for them on the restraint, though it could never go lower than five percent without a chance of the device shorting out due to an Aura surge or something that might push it over the limit. It did, however, restrict all use of Semblances, and is used frequently by all Kingdoms to transport dangerous individuals.

"Well, look who finally came to." Raiden's voice drew Tanner's attention to where he was now fiddling with one of the swordsman's pistols. "I have to say, for someone who took the beating you did, you lasted a couple seconds longer than I expected you to."

"Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but could you get your fucking hands off my guns?" Tanner asked in a calm, nonchalant tone.

The shadowcaster chuckled for a few seconds before setting the weapon next to him. "You guys are fucking hilarious, you know that? Fighting in the face of certain doom, going up against Cinder with nothing but a four man – sorry, three man team and a gunship? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this was some kind of complicated plan to _get_ killed."

It was then that Tanner realised that SK was not with them. His eyes widened for a split second before he put on the mask of unflinching resolve once more.

This was a good sign; if SK wasn't here, then there was a chance that the rogue was nearby and planning to spring them loose. But, there was also the chance that he had run off at the first sign of danger and left them to die.

Given their last exchange though, Tanner was realistically more likely to bet on the latter. Thinking about it more, the brunette slowly realised that there really was no way out of this. His weapons were out of reach, they were surrounded by enemies and were likely being taken to the very heart of Cinder's operations, and there was no one coming to their rescue.

It was only when he felt the tickle of fabric against his face did Tanner realise that they had neglected to disarm him of his scarf. The swordsman's conviction renewed as he felt his Aura gently pulse through the fabric. They hadn't taken _all_ of his weapons from him, now they just needed an opportunity.

"What's your story, anyway?" Raiden spoke up again, looking first to T, then to Tanner. "Cinder didn't exactly tell me why she wanted you guys dead, so I've been left to speculate for the past few hours. Since you're all dead anyway, why not tell me – keep me entertained until we get to Cinder?"

Raising his eyebrows, Tanner gave the teen a sceptical look before responding. "Uh, because Cinder's evil – is there anything else to it?"

In response, Raiden scoffed as he put the sword in his hand down on the empty seat next to him. "Listen, you look to be about my age, so I'm pretty sure you know by now that evil is a matter of perspective."

"No, I mean she is literally evil!" Tanner insisted, his tone suggesting no anger and instead only the interest to get his point across. "She kills people like you and me without batting an eye – no matter what we do for her. The only way we survive is if we beat her first!"

"Not me," Raiden boasted with a smug expression. "Once I turn you three in, I'm off the hook – no strings attached."

The brunette furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if there was a chance that they could persuade the midnight-haired boy to help them escape. If what he was saying was true, then really, they were all in the same boat. However, before he could say anything, T beat him to it.

"Tell me, Mr Alexander, do you really think Cinder is the type of person to hold herself true to claims like that?" As soon as T spoke, the White Fang goons in the truck with them suddenly seemed more wary and alert.

Raiden, however, looked puzzled more than anything. "How...do you know my last name?"

"I know more about you than you think. I know that you've been working for Cinder for five months, two weeks and four days. I know that in that time, Cinder has called upon your services in order to perform Dust thefts and bring gangs like the Blue Boys under her control…I know that your kill-count numbers forty-eight confirmed kills, and at least two dozen unconfirmed ones." After saying all this, T spared the shocked shdowcaster a glance. "After all the blood you've split, do you think she'll really let you walk back home to your brothers without any catch?"

This time, Raiden really was surprised. "How the…what's it to you?" he replied more sternly after his initial stutter.

"You've seen what Cinder does with people like us. She's about to do just so with me…and my team." T continued, constantly staring in one direction. "Do you really think Cinder will stop with her loose-ends there?"

Tanner searched the shadowcaster's face for any sign of what he thought or felt, but he was doing a good job of keeping a straight face. The rest of the ride to wherever they were going went by in silence, only broken by the occasional muffled noise from Mason, who struggled against his heavy bindings that were surely cutting into his skin and cutting of blood circulation.

As far as the swordsman could tell, it took roughly another twelve minutes before they reached their destination – the bumpy road constantly jostling the vehicle as they went. When they finally came to a stop, nothing happened for about ten seconds before the back-doors of the vehicle were thrown open, and a familiar voice resounded through the air.

"Alright, you grunts, let's get these ingrates outta there!" as soon as this was said, the guards around them grabbed either of T and his arms and helped them to their feet, pushing them out of the truck and into the arms of another pair of guards. Looking up, the brunette found that the day had already turned to night, with just the fading twilight of the sun casting a dark-purple shade on the sky over the distant mountains. It was then that Tanner caught sight of the source of the voice.

"Roman Torchwick," he greeted evenly with a curt nod. "Come to see Cinder put an arrow in between my eyes?"

The older man quick knocked some of the ash from his cigar before scoffing at the boy as he passed by the criminal. "Don't try to squeeze sympathy from me, Vermillion. You knew what you were doing when you joined up with the likes of him." Tanner's eyes followed where Roman was pointing his cigar to indicate T, who still struggled against the guards that held him.

"Well, in that case, I think we can consider the alliances you had between my parents over." Tanner stated as his escorts urged him forward.

"Oh, don't be so naïve, Tanner." Roman said with an exaggerated groan. "I don't give a damn about alliances with cold corpses."

The words set a fire burning in his chest as he suddenly lurched out of the grips of his captors – who hadn't expected him to struggle – and stood right in front of the orange-haired criminal. "Those 'cold corpses' were your friends." He hissed venomously as the guards came up behind him to grab his upper arms more firmly.

"You don't get to where I am now by having 'friends', Tanner." Torchwick called out as the brunette was escorted to what looked like an old Mistrali airship hangar. The building was shaped much like a hunter-green inverted half-pipe; a more primitive design in comparison to what Atlas had around the same time, but it served its purpose. From the sheer length of it, Tanner estimated that – if you tried hard enough – one could fit an entire attack squadron of airships in it, along with the necessary parts for repair and maintenance.

The hangar doors had been thrown wide open, and through them, the brunette could see some of the weapons, Dust and war machines that had been stockpiled in there, as well as the dozens of White Fang goons and hired thugs that were working to get things organised and prepared for…something. Tanner even recognised a few of the gangs by their uniform, but he was in no position to try to turn them over to his side right now.

Passing in between the airships that lined the airfield outside the hanger, Tanner briefly considered trying to use his Semblance to set one of them off and cause a distraction, but knew it wouldn't work. He had been subtly trying to summon his Aura to a level where he could actually extend it through his Semblance, but alas, the Aura restraint on his arm wouldn't allow for it.

It was only after he and the others had been walked right up to the entrance of the Mistrali hanger did Tanner notice that their escort had increased in numbers. He had only meant to take a quick glance over his shoulder to see where the others were, and found that their escort had roughly tripled in size.

Right behind him, T was being brought forward in a similar manner to the swordsman. Two White Fang goons flanked him on either side, but now there were three more goons wearing dark-blue fedoras with matching dark-blue overcoats and slacks over white undershirts. Each of them held two automatic pistols in their hands, and Tanner recognised the attire as that of the standard Blue Boys gang – the same one T had mentioned.

Tanner didn't know too much about them, but knew enough that he was surprised that a Vale-based gang was now working for Cinder in Mistral. In hindsight, the swordsman was in much the same position when Roman first approached him, except something told Tanner that Cinder didn't give them much of a choice with what their job options were.

Behind the cyborg, Tanner spotted the berserker, who was being wheeled along in a two-wheeled push trolley, firmly strapped in with leather belts as the redhead continued to struggle against his bindings and yelled muffled nonsense.

 _Looks like they aren't taking chances this time._ Tanner thought to himself as he saw Torchwick and Raiden when he looked the other way.

Turning the other way, the swordsman saw a pair of White Fan goons carrying his, Mason's and T's weapons in each of their arms. Tanner briefly considered trying to take his sword and pistol off them, but dismissed the idea when he realised how likely it would get him killed. Instead, he had another stupid idea – which was probably less likely to get him killed.

Taking a deep breath and holding it for a moment, the swordsman suddenly shook free of the White Fang grunts holding him by elbowing one under the ribs and kicking the other in the ankle before making a mad dash towards where Raiden was.

The sudden action seemed to take everyone by surprise, as no one reacted in time to stop Tanner from tackling the shadowcaster on to his rear.

As soon as they hit the ground, five different pairs of rough hands were on the swordsman's black overcoat as they quickly got him off the black-haired teen, but not before Tanner was able to look Raiden in the eyes and shouted, "As soon as she's done with us, she'll kill you next!"

It was all he was able to get out before being thrown onto his back, sliding a couple metres away from Raiden. Sharp kicks and flat-footed stomps followed a split second after his back hit the ground, depleting all his Aura in seconds as someone drove one last punch into his chest before forcing him to stand. The whole time, the pain and lurching in his gut was too much for the swordsman to even open his eyes, so he wasn't sure who helped him back to his feet or who threw the punches.

There was a sensation of motion sickness when Tanner was suddenly righted seconds after being beaten in, but the brunette was able to stop himself from throwing up as he regained the strength to crack open his eyes.

Tanner half-expected a slap to come his way when he opened his eyes, so it came as a pleasant surprise when none came, and he was instead pushed along – more roughly this time – into the open hanger.

From the edge of his peripheral vision, he was able to catch a glimpse of Raiden as the shadowcaster picked himself off the ground. Because of the disorientation and how fast he was being pushed along, Tanner couldn't tell what the teen's expression was, but had a feeling by the look of his posture that at least one word from the swordsman's mouth got to him.

"Really, Vermilion, you're only making this harder on yourself." Roman said in a mock-pleading tone. "I'd rather not have the boys here rough up your suit – considering it's what you're going to wear for your funeral."

In response, Tanner swirled the glob of spit and blood that had developed in his mouth and spat it down at his feet. Unfortunately, his aim was slightly off and most of the spit hit his own shoe. "If I'm going to Hell, you're going to have to drag me down there yourself."

"…Did you just spit on your own shoe?"

"I missed the floor – give me a break!"

"You know the whole 'blood-n-spit' routine loses its effect when you spit on your own shoe."

"I know – don't rub it in!"

In a way, Tanner was glad that they found Cinder before Roman could go on any longer. From past experience, the brunette knew that the ginger-haired criminal could spend hours gloating if given the opportunity and it _always_ grinded on his nerves when he was on the short end of the stick. However, Tanner wasn't sure if it was a fair trade-off if it meant he was going to be murdered by a psychotic bitch.

Cinder and her entourage noticed Tanner and the others as they approached, a smug and knowing smirk spreading across her face as she took in the sight before her. With the wave of a hand, she dismissed the Blue Boy thug that she was talking to and began walking towards them, waving her hand over her shoulder to beckon the others to follow her.

His escort stopped abruptly as the ash-haired woman started walking towards them, causing Tanner to almost trip over himself because of how off-balance he already was.

"I see you were successful in your task, Raiden." Cinder stated while stopping. "I knew I could count on you to get the job done." The praise sounded more practiced than genuine as she looked over each of her new prisoners, the black-haired teen only nodding curtly in response. However, the half-Maiden's expression of smug pride disappeared as she looked over them for the third time. "Where's Esinti?" she demanded, her question aimed at Raiden.

"He wasn't anywhere in the village." Raiden replied with a sigh. "Now, before you start yelling, yes; I actually took a walk around the village to check."

"His Semblance is to turn invisible – you idiot!" Cinder yelled anyway. "He could be right here and we wouldn't know it!"

Cinder's words seemed to set everyone on edge. Hands flew to the hilts of their weapons – if they weren't already – as everyone around them turned their heads slowly, as if they might catch a glimpse of the rogue if they did.

"Don't bother." Tanner spoke up, though his voice was weak from the beating and only a trickle of his Aura to numb the pain. "He's long gone – and he's not coming back."

"And why should we believe you?" Roman asked as he stepped around and into Tanner's view.

Torchwick was only met with silence for a couple of seconds before the brunette spoke again. "You're not; you're supposed to believe her." Tanner indicated with a nod of his head that he was referring to Cinder. "You've seen what he's like, does loyal fit anywhere in the list of words you'd use to describe SK?"

A few seconds passed where Cinder continued to leer at Tanner sceptically before she was interrupted by the sound of heavy metal hitting metal. Turning in the direction of the sound, she saw that Mercury and Emerald had taken the weapons off the pair of White Fang goons and placed them on the nearby table. "We get claim to some of their stuff after they die, right?" asked Mercury.

Instead of responding to the question, Cinder turned to face Torchwick. "Tell the White Fang to stay on high-alert for intruders or missing personnel. If anything seems off, sound the alarm." She ordered quickly in a low tone of voice.

Glancing to either side of him, Torchwick nodded once in reply before walking off. With him gone, Cinder could finally focus her ire on the three before her. She briefly looked up at the guards still holding them before gesturing for them to bend down to their knees. The guards instantly brought the balls of their boots to the back of Tanner's legs to force him down, knowing that he wouldn't kneel on his own. By the sound of things from behind him, the swordsman assumed they were doing the same for T.

The ash-haired woman's golden eyes briefly flicked over the three before glancing at Raiden. "You've done well, Alexander. As promised, I will hold up my end of the bargain – you may leave whenever you desire." Tanner noticed that Raiden's eyes briefly widened before returning to his usual confident visage.

"I hoped you would, otherwise there would be trouble." The shadowcaster admitted as he turned on his heels. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be going now."

Cinder's next words stopped him cold. "Aw, but I had hopes you could stay to watch the execution." The ash-haired woman's tone was almost pleading, but still carried with it a sense of insistence. Slowly, Raiden turned around to face her and hesitated before responding.

"Sure, why not? It's not like I've got anything better to do." As he said this, Cinder smiled a cold smile and turned her attention back to T.

"I'll be honest with you, T. You put up more of a fight than I thought you would, and have made things considerably harder for us in Mistral." Cinder began as she walked over to the downed cyborg, her tone calm, cold and composed, but also carrying something dangerous – like a glass window barely holding back a hurricane.

"Moving on to Vale so soon?" T asked back, his tone as neutral as ever, despite how fatigued his eyes looked.

The ash-haired woman hummed in consideration for moment before taking a couple steps closer to bend over and gently pull the face scarf over T's mouth down to his collar, giving the hacker what Tanner could only guess was a perfect view of her cleavage.

Whether this was to taunt or aggravate, Tanner couldn't know. _She's taunting. Definitely taunting._

"Not just yet. There are a few things that need to be cleared up first." Cinder continued as she stood up straight.

"Things like Operation: Crystal Slipper? Or Project Spinning Wheel?" T shot back instantly, causing Cinder's eyes to go wide in surprise and shock.

However, Tanner was at a loss for what T was talking about. _I've never heard him mention either of those before. What else are you keeping from us?_

"Things like you!" Cinder shot back as she reached back for her twin blades and drew them forward, crossing them against the hacker's neck. "You must have always known it would end like this – you on my wrong end."

T remained silent for a few seconds before responding. "It was a possibility I considered several times."

"Then you must either be suicidal or more foolish than I thought you to be." As Cinder said this, she brought her swords down from T's neck to her sides, and took a couple steps closer to Tanner. "It's unfortunate this is the way things have had to end for you, Roman has said good things about you."

With a strong cough, the brunette was able to cough up enough saliva to spit on the ground in front of him. "As if I'd work with someone out to destroy the world."

This time, Cinder let out a sarcastic laugh. "Destroy the world? Is that what he told you I'm doing?" she asked while gesturing to T. The ash-haired woman waited a second – as if expecting a response from Tanner – before continuing. "How much has he told you, exactly?"

 _How much has he told me?_ The brunette thought to himself as he turned his head slightly towards the hacker. Before he was able to respond, however, the sound of leather tearing brought everyone's attention to Mason, who had somehow bit through the leather gag in his mouth. "Oh, well. He's told us lots." Mason explained with a smile. It was then that Tanner's fear spiked, unsure of how much Mason was willing to say in order to save his own skin. "He's told us all about you're narcissistic tendencies and how you're such a self-proclaimed bitch. Have to say, it's gotten me _real_ excited to finally kill you – way more than before!"

After the berserker went silent – the sadistic smile on his face still present, Cinder's eyes briefly flitted between T and Tanner, who just stared back at her with perplexity in their expressions as she turned to face him again. "I…see." Even Cinder's tone of voice sounded sceptical.

"If you're going to kill us, please kill him first – I want my last few minutes to be silent so I can think of how much I fucking hate everyone in this hangar." Tanner requested.

"If she was going to kill us, she'd have already done it." T added tauntingly. "She doesn't have what it takes."

The half-Maiden briefly showed an expression of shock before it morphed into one of annoyance. "Well, since you're all so eager to meet your end…" as she spoke, she slammed the hilts of her swords together to form her bladed-bow and took an arrow off her back. "Your weapons will all fetch a high price on the open market."

Suddenly, Tanner realised how imminent death was, and began trying to formulate an escape plan. He focussed on the weapons and heavy ordinance that was scattered around the hangar. His eyes flitted around for anything exposed or volatile before settling on one of the crates marked 'Explosives'. Focusing all of his Aura on the box and its contents, the swordsman could faintly feel the presence of Dust inside it and began charging its contents with his Semblance. He still needed to stall for time. "An arrow? That's how it's going to end for me?" Tanner asked, rhetorically of course. He never intended to get a reply.

But he did anyway. "Yeah, Cinder. If you wanted us to suffer, you really shouldn't be going for arrows – they punch right through you _way_ to quick and can end you in an instant." Mason went on. "Now, if you really wanted us to die painfully, you'd go with stabs – those blades you got would go nicely. If not, there's always-" he was cut off when a yelp of pain escaped him instead of his next words. Looking back, Tanner saw that there was an arrow now sticking out of his right shoulder. When he turned back to Cinder, he saw that the ash-haired woman had a satisfied look at having shut the redhead up.

"I'll just leave that there to bleed a little before finishing you off, last." Cinder stated venomously. No matter how hard Tanner focussed and channelled his Aura, it simply wasn't enough to reach the Dust flashpoint. They were shaking, active and charged to be sure, but the Aura Restraint on his arm was doing its work and making sure his Aura did not pass its limits.

 _Need to keep stalling._ "Come on, Em. You're not really going to just let her kill me, are you?" he asked, turning his orange eyes to the mint-haired girl who was leaning against the nearby table, watching on with only mild guilt.

"Afraid so, sorry Tanner." She stated without the slightest hint of regret.

The brunette briefly thought that the felt the Dust in crate he was focusing on almost reach critical capacity, and decided to try stalling some more. Cinder had just levelled her bow with his face when he spoke. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't I get a last request or something before you kill me?"

The ash-haired woman paused briefly, as if she was considering his request before locking her gaze with his. "No."

Tanner closed his eyes as gunshots suddenly rang out through the hangar, and everyone's attention was drawn to the overhead cat-walks – where the shots came from.

Upon looking up, the swordsman's eyes widened when he saw that SK was locked in combat with two White Fang goons, kicking the legs out from one of them and stomping on the back of his neck before grabbing the other and throwing him over the edge of the catwalk.

The Faunus hit the ground with a loud thud as SK turned to face them, breathing heavily. "Hey there." He called out.

* * *

 **A few moments ago…**

 _This is a stupid idea. This is a stupid idea. This is a stupid idea!_ SK thought to himself as he continued to scout around the perimeter of the hangar.

After the confrontation with Cinder, all SK wanted to do was find time for himself to think about what had happened, and why he shouldn't just go after Cinder by himself. He did do what he said he was going to do, and performed a thorough search of the perimeter. Aside from a few signs that Grimm had passed through the area, the area they had landed in really was safe. Even so, SK kept searching, more for himself and to put some distance between his unstable allies and himself, trying to think about what had transpired.

It had been much later when he heard the sound of fighting and gunshots from the village, but by the time he got back, it was far too late to help the others without also risking himself. The rogue was ready to go back into hiding and wait for a better chance to strike at the shadowcaster, thinking that he would be coming after him next. However, SK hesitated in striking out at Raiden when he walked by the building he was hiding against, considering the fact that the teen had beaten the rest of his team on his own, but has yet to kill them. Instead, SK kept a close eye on him as the shadowcaster took a walk around the village, looking like he was searching for the rogue before stopping back at T's body, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him off towards the forest, where a waft of shadows was holding Mason up like a hunk of salted meat. The shadowcaster left T there as he walked off, but SK didn't do anything just yet, just watching as he left to go bring Tanner over.

"Whew, you boys are heavy - did you know that? Pity I couldn't find your friend, Cinder's probably going to chew me through for it, but what can ya do?" With that, the wafts of shadows disappeared and Raiden instead got out a length of rope to tie his teammates together and began dragging them off. From the sound of it, Raiden had likely given up on his search for him, but SK wasn't about to count his luck just yet.

Instead, he continued to follow the shadowcaster from a safe distance, stopping when Raiden came upon a White Fang convoy that was likely arranged to meet him and transport the others, who were still unconscious.

As he watched Raiden hop into the transport and shut the doors behind him, a thought suddenly occurred to him. _Why should I bother rescuing them? They're undisciplined, without honour, psychotic, and beneath me. They deserve this fate…we all do._ The rogue was getting ready to slip back into the shadows and find his way back to Mistral when the carrier's engines started up again, and a realisation struck him. _They're going straight back to Cinder. They can lead me to Cinder!_ He was already running after the carrier at a sprint before leaping on and grabbing a free hand-hold just as it started moving. _I don't have to rescue any of them – I just have to kill Fall!_

It took much less effort to hang on to the side of the armoured transport than it would have had to chase after it, considering the speed it drove at, and the amount of noise the vehicle made was more than enough to mask his presence. All SK had to do was hang on, and Vanish if anyone bothered to poke their head out of the windows.

This gave the rogue a chance to relax and think of the possible situations he might have to face, but it did not last as long as he had hoped when he noticed – to his sudden shock and fear – the transport pass by a guard post along the road. Out of fear and reflex, SK quickly turned invisible as he took in his surroundings, which he realised he had been ignoring altogether while he thought to himself.

The first thing he noticed when he peered around the edges of the transport was that they had arrived at some wartime Mistrali air base. Though these places are supposed to be nearly ninety years old, the amount of White Fang activity and weaponry made it look like it was still being used for war. _It's probably what it's being used for._

The raven-haired teen kept his concealment up as the transport drove further and further into the base – passing by a second guard post that was set up by an old metal fence that encircled most of the base, knowing that at some point he would have to jump off or be noticed when the guards started unloading the others. However, SK was determined to stay on the carrier and take note of every airship, weapon cache and armoured vehicle that were scattered around the base by recording everything with his glasses. He also took note of how the sun had set even further, and the sky was now in twilight – briefly considering whether or not to risk dropping his cloak so that he did not waste his Aura. Taking note of how heavily populated this outpost was, however, the rogue thought better of it; though it was now night, the fact that most of the enemies in the stronghold were Faunuses worked against him.

The transport drove further towards the lone aircraft hangar before suddenly stopping, SK's iron grip on the free handle preventing him from falling off, but also preventing him from dismounting immediately. When he did, the realisation hit him that he hadn't considered where to hide, and panicked when he saw an orange-haired man approaching with an armed escort. In his panic, SK quickly scrambled to take cover in between two cargo crates a few metres away, only disabling his Semblance when he was between them.

From where he was hiding, SK could still overhear what was being said by the orange-haired man, who from what Tanner said seemed to be the Roman Torchwick he heard T and Tanner talk about in passing mention. From the sound of things, Torchwick was taking them directly to Cinder, which once again, worked in the rogue's advantage.

Moving between the metal crates he was wedged in between, SK reactivated his Semblance as he came out into the open and watched as his allies were being escorted towards the aircraft hangar a few metres away, which seemed to be the hub of all the activity here.

A quick tap on the side of his glasses activated the tactical HUD built in the frame and gave its overlay. SK quickly found where the HUD told him his Aura level was, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his Aura level was still reasonably high.

However, the rogue quickly decided that he would have to expend more of it to get to the back of the hangar, in order to catch Cinder by surprise as the others were being sent in through the front.

Considering all the guards in the way, SK also decided to quietly execute few on his way – as he had a hunch feeling that he'd end up fighting his way out, even if he got Cinder.

With his HUD active, SK began marking targets along a wide arc along the airstrip next to the hangar, waiting for the right moment to make a move. The path he was going to take would give him as much cover as possible; weaving between vehicles, ammo caches and tents. The rogue would still have to be careful, but it shouldn't be much of a challenge.

SK moved with a burst of speed when he saw Tanner start another commotion, drawing his falchion silently as he went, turning invisible the second he broke cover. The first blind-spot he was going for was an airship that looked like it was being prepared to launch. Three White Fang goons were working on it, but SK didn't have any intention of killing them. Instead, he slipped by them, changing course slightly when a tank rolled by to avoid being flattened.

It helped that there were very few lights or fires lit around the base, but SK did not want to take any chances with the Faunus. Instead, he only disabled Vanish when he had clambered over a cache full of Dust and couldn't see any guards around.

He didn't get more than two seconds before a pair of guards – who looked more like they were from one of the Mistrali mafias – began walking towards the crates from SK's right. Thankfully, the two were talking with one another and didn't notice the dark-haired teen as he slipped away, making a beeline for the back of the hangar.

The task was made easier when the rogue saw a jeep driving in the same direction he was running only a few metres away. The Faunus at the driver's seat was alone and a thick tarp covering several boxes of supplies in the rear compartment.

Without thinking much, SK made a dash for it and ducked under the tarp as he rolled into it, crawling forward until he was right behind the driver. As they neared the back of the hangar, SK briefly considered killing her, but thought better of it when he realised how suspicious it would be if the transport suddenly stopped.

As soon as she began driving in a different direction, the rogue jumped off the jeep and ran along the side of the building. Three guards were standing right in front of the backdoor to the hangar, chatting and blocking the way forward.

SK was out of options. With four quick slashes, the rogue cut down the guards before they could even scream in surprise.

He didn't even bother with hiding the bodies as he pushed open the doors to the back of the hangar – blood had been split and blood was going to keep spilling, there was no point in trying to hide it.

As soon as he pushed through the doors, SK quickly noticed that the back of the hangar was slightly darker than the front – where Cinder and the others were, which worked to his advantage. Around him were airships, scattered airship parts, several deactivated Atlesian androids and workmen dealing with various tasks.

Fortunately, none of them had noticed the raven-haired teen slip in, and he quickly ran the options through his head. A head-on attack against Cinder would probably get him killed, if he wasn't spotted first. Using Vanish was no longer an option either; SK did his best to summon it, but he had effectively burnt through it just to get here.

It was then that he noticed the sound of boots against metal coming from above, and saw a few guards patrolling a catwalk above. _That's it!_ He thought. _If I can get the height advantage over Cinder, I might just be able to bring her down before she can strike back._

SK's eyes darted around in search of the ladder or staircase that would take him up to the catwalk above, finding it on the right and immediately running for it. Whenever a guard or workmen would get in his way, the rogue would either cut them down or knock them out, making sure no one saw him do it. And if they did, SK just had to react quickly; either grabbing a sharp object nearby to throw at them or throwing Yakmak and making sure the blade went through them when he did.

Stepping around the separated wing of an airship, the rogue tackled the last guard in his way to the ground, knocking him out cold with the hilt of his sword before standing and quickly jumping on the ladder that would take him up.

He was out of breath by the time he reached the catwalk, having effectively sprinted for the last minute or so. The rogue was about to take a moment to catch his breath as he pulled himself up, when he realised the sound of footsteps along the catwalk had stopped.

The breath caught in his throat as his head swivelled to see one of the White Fang guards reaching for their gun.

 _No! Not when I'm so close._ In an instant, he was back to his feet, adrenaline pumping in his blood as he slashed his blade across the Faunus' chest, causing him to stagger backwards before running his sword through the man's chest.

SK only realised then that there were three guards along the catwalk, and that the other two were cocking their guns. The rogue moved quickly to silence them, crossing the catwalk in great strides. However, he was nowhere near fast enough to stop the Faunuses from firing their guns, two salvos of bullets flying towards him which he dodged with ease.

 _Shit._ He managed to close the distance after another two shots and batted the man's rifle out of the way while sweeping the legs out from under him. Flowing with the momentum of the attack, SK swung his blade and dealt a large gash on the arm of the other White Fang grunt before twisting around to stomp on the downed Faunus' neck, hearing something crack when he did. The other Faunus had dropped her pistol when SK slashed her wrist, and couldn't draw her knife quickly enough before he pushed her over the railings of the catwalk. The Faunus' screams could be heard as she took the quick way down, while SK slowly turned to where Cinder and the others were staring at him, surprise on many of their expressions.

His breath was heavy and he knew in a few moments, every Faunus on the base would be on him, and it was probably the end of everything. There was no scenario in which the rogue could get out of this on his own and he didn't have the element of surprise anymore – he was done for.

 _Unless…_

"Hey there." He called out, his voice sounding very empty as he struggled to catch his breath. When he received no reply, he continued. "This, uh, this was supposed to be a rescue." He lied.


	27. Chapter 22

**A/N: Sorry for the delay folks. Once again, time seems to have slipped away from me. I told myself, 'Yeah! I can get this done in a week if I put my mind to it!' Now look at me, nearly 3 weeks overdue. Anyway, I don't have much else more to say. I won't bore you guys with excuses and will have to settle for saying that I'll probably miss my next deadline if I set one.**

Shadowfall

 **Present Time**

Truthfully, T hadn't expected the rogue to come for them. He had taken the possibility into account, but since he regained consciousness in that armoured carrier, the hacker had been planning his escape independent of whether or not SK came to their aid. Many of the solutions that came to him, however, required unreasonable precision and all weighed heavily on the others' abilities to keep Cinder and her goons busy. He had already sent out a signal for help, but T knew that they would not reach him in time without some kind of diversion.

Now, however, the task was easier.

The mistake on Cinder's part had been that she did not have anyone take away his – or anyone else's – Scroll, as while he was unable to move his arms, the implants that connected his mind to his Scroll, his arm and all the other appliances and equipment he had wired to the same system allowed him to perform several of the tasks on the device without even touching it. T always played up the fact that his arm was one of the most advanced pieces of hardware he had ever put together and that it was his most powerful weapon, but it wasn't. The truth was that his Scroll was both of those things, but no one knew that. It was the ace up his sleeve; no one knew how powerful his Scroll could be, and it would keep his enemies ignorant of how dangerous he really was.

The second T had been forced off the transport, the hacker had begun trying to fry the magnetic lock the White Fang had stuck to his arm. The technology was mediocre at best; electromagnetic bolts that were used by the joint Mistrali-Atlesian androids to lock them up when they weren't in use to avoid wasting power or any accidents from happening.

For him, the magnetic lock prevented any movement at all out of its contracted armour-lock or use of its weapons system. T still had control of the internal electronics, but it didn't matter if the cyborg couldn't even move his fingers.

To unlock the magnetic bolt, a person would normally need a key or a spike under the correct code to demagnetise it, but the lock could otherwise as easily be broken by enough blunt force or a powerful enough electric shock. Usually, however, the amount of electrical charge that would be needed to fry the bolt could only come from a truck battery or a medium-sized generator.

Usually, T would be able to pump out that much charge from his arm alone, but the magnetic bolt also hampered the flow of electricity in the prosthetic's circuits. Fortunately, the magnetic flow between the bolt and T's arm meant that the charge flowed more easily into the lock's contacts. The hacker had already run the calculations to make sure that it would work.

All that was left was to wait for the right moment to make his move.

"This, uh, this was supposed to be a rescue." SK stated dumbly, standing on the catwalk with his sword at his side.

"And how's that working out for you?" Torchwick called out, suddenly appearing out of the shadows along an adjacent catwalk and holding his cane out, ready to fire.

Shrugging, the rogue held his falchion in a ready stance. "Oh, you know; it was going fine up until you guys spotted me."

"Y'know, for a guy who can turn invisible, I can honestly say I've seen stealthier people – or, y'know, not seen them." Raiden stated mockingly, his arms folded as he stepped up to better eye the rogue. "And 'Hey, there'? That was the best line you could come up with? Right off the top of my head, I can think of, like, seven _way_ better lines you could have opened up with."

"Thank you, but I don't remember asking for your opinion." SK shot back.

More guards abruptly started pouring in to the hangar, likely having heard the commotion as Torchwick and SK were locked in a fierce stand-off. One of the White Fang goons walked up to Cinder and asked her, "Ma'am, what do we-"

"Kill him, bring me his head." She ordered, not bothering to wait for the goon to finish his question.

"Don't worry about it, Fall. I can take him by myself." Torchwick boasted with a smirk, taking a few steps closer before SK raised his left hand and activated the missile launcher function of the bracer T built for him.

"You can try." Before Roman even had enough time to fire a single shot, the rogue had already raised his left hand and fired four shots out of his wrist bracer. Each of the micro-missiles went skyward and blew two of the cables that supported the catwalk, raining dust and debris down from the points of impact and masking SK's movements as he lunged at Roman. Their weapons made contact once before the rogue turned his attention to the other cables, cutting them each with one slice and causing the catwalk to collapse.

Roman Torchwick reacted fast enough to get off the collapsing catwalk – hopping backwards and gripping the railings of the catwalk to ensure he didn't slide off – as SK slid down the catwalks as they broke apart and slanted at a sharp angle.

The rogue was invisible before he hit the ground, but he didn't stay concealed for long before reappearing again to slash and stab one of the White Fang guards. The Faunus dropped as SK's falchion popped open and began firing beams of energy at the other guards nearby.

Cinder moved to intercept as she drew her bow back and fired an arrow at his feet. With all the fire and strikes coming from the White Fang and the few Blue Boys that happened to join the fight, SK didn't notice the arrow until the ground around it erupted into a high-pitch screech followed by an explosion.

The blast threw the midnight-haired boy across the hangar and onto his front, where he laid still as if he were unconscious. T knew better, however, as he read off the bio-readings he was getting from the bracer on SK's arm, telling him that the rogue was still conscious.

A wide arc of guards formed around SK's prone form, their guns trained on him and waiting for Cinder's word. The half-Maiden stepped up to the line, where a pair of Blue Boys parted for her to stand beside them with her bow lowered.

To his right, Tanner was standing up like he was getting ready to bolt, but stopped when he felt the bladed tip of Neo's parasol against the side of his throat.

"Don't forget that we're still here." Mercury stated as Tanner slowly got back down on his knees.

SK remained still for another heartbeat before suddenly rolling on his back and firing another salvo of missiles from his wrist-bracer at Cinder. As expected, the ash-haired woman only had to raise her hand to create a field in front of her that took the blast. Two of the micro-missiles made contact with the invisible shield in front of Cinder, while the other two struck the ground around SK, throwing up dirt into the air as someone gave the order to open fire and his position was peppered with shots.

When the smoke cleared, however, there was no body. "Where is he?" Cinder hissed through gritted teeth.

A few seconds of silence passed as T continued to track SK's motion before Tanner spoke up. "Where'd he go?" the swordsman asked as he craned his neck about. "Don't tell me he actually bailed on us."

As the hacker tracked where the rogue was moving about, his eyes widened at where he was going, and the implications of what his plan might be.

* * *

Mason was beginning to lose the feeling in his right arm from all the blood loss of the wound Cinder's arrow made. He had been struggling against the thick leather bindings ever since he regained consciousness, and could feel the strain and wear his struggling was putting against it. The berserker would have been able to break free eventually, if it weren't for Cinder and the arrow she put through him. Now, not only was he still losing blood, but the arrow had mostly gone through him and held him against the bench he was strapped to.

It was only when the redhead stopped struggling against the leather belts that he heard the faint sound of footsteps right beside him. He tried to look in the direction the sound was coming from, but could not see anything.

He didn't need to, however, when he heard the person's voice. "This doesn't mean we're friends." SK whispered close to his head as the redhead felt some of the leather bindings slacken.

"Oh, we are so best friends after this!" Mason whispered excitedly.

"Shh!" SK hushed as the redhead felt the rest of his bindings slacken. "Listen, I need you stay here while I go grab your weapons from the table over there, that way we have can the jump on them – can you do that?"

The redhead couldn't control the smile that spread across his face even if he tried. "I'll play nice this time."

"There he is!" Torchwick shouted, having climbed down from the catwalk above, before firing a round from his cane at where Mason estimated the raven-haired teen to be. When the Dust round hit, the blast sent both of them flying.

The redhead involuntarily closed his eyes when he was thrown through the air, but opened them as he landed to see that SK was but a few feet away from him.

"The red one is loose! Focus fire on him and call for reinforcements!" someone shouted from the line of guards in front of them.

The two paused as they locked gaze, realising that the plan wasn't going to work any longer before SK shouted, "Improvise!"

When SK said this, the world around Mason seemed to slow down as his eyes flitted about to consider his options. His sharp, blood-red eyes took in every detail around him; from the armed guards standing in front of Cinder with their weapons trained on him, to T getting ready to spring at the nearest threat and break out of the handcuffs, even to the extra guards rushing through the entrance behind them as a siren rang out through the airbase.

 _That's it!_ The idea came to Mason almost as quickly as the smirk did. Picking the closest new arrival to him, the berserker grabbed the shaft of the arrow in his shoulder, snapped it off, rolled to his feet and rushed him, dodging gunfire as he went. Too close to the redhead, the guard didn't have enough time to take aim before Mason grabbed the frame of his rifle and aimed it down towards the ground.

Using the advantage he had, the berserker twisted himself around the guard and used him as a shield while firing the rifle with one hand.

Mason was able to get off two good kills before he felt a few bullets fly by him from behind, feeling them by the shimmer in the air that they left as they went. In one fluid motion, the redhead used his free hand to push the Faunus he was holding on to away before twisting himself around with the rifle now in both hands.

With it, he ran for cover while holding down on the rifle's trigger, gunning down a few of the guards entering the hangar while sending the rest ducking for cover. In a couple of seconds, the berserker was behind a crate of machine parts as gunfire trailed after him from all sides.

Suddenly, the gunfire from the front was diverted as SK popped out of cover a few times to fire at the armed Faunuses and Humans with his laser rifle. "Go! Get your weapons! I'll cover for you!" he shouted at the redhead before rushing forward to meet Torchwick in a clash of weapons.

Turning to the crate of weapons, Mason shared a glance – and a quick wave – with Emerald, Mercury and Neo before dashing forward, dodging or charging through bullets and Dust rounds as he went while Mercury stepped up to meet him.

"Finally, some payback!" Mercury muttered under his breath before launching a kick forward. Try as he might, Mason could not defend himself against the force of the kick, knocked onto his back when the boot met his forearm. The second he was thrown onto his back, the redhead had to keep rolling to avoid both Mercury's solid kicks and rounds from Emerald's long-pistols.

Eventually, the berserker was able to right himself and begin peppering the three with rifle fire, causing them to dodge each shot as Mason made to run towards them. When the gun clicked dry, Mason then removed the clip to the gun and held it in one hand while holding the smoking barrel of the rifle in the other. With his improvised weapons, he charged Emerald and Mercury, the two taking point while Neo held Tanner against her, using him as a shield.

Neither of the two seemed prepared for Mason's impromptu attack, which gave him the advantage for a whole of five seconds as he first swung at Emerald with the rifle before throwing the empty magazine at Mercury. The rifle met the mint-haired girl's guns in a clash of weapons, while the clip met its mark and staggered the speedster.

This gave Mason the opening he needed, abandoning the rifle as he ran towards the table of weapons and rolled over it as he grabbed both his weapons. "Hello, my beauties!" he cheered with a grin.

"Stop him!" he heard Cinder yell as he flipped Bas in one hand while taunting Mercury with Fuil.

As expected, the grey-haired teen lunged forward with a barrage of kicks, which Mason deflected with more ease this time now that he had his weapons. Though the berserker was able to get a couple good strikes, each blow was deflected or blocked by Mercury, which prevented his Semblance from building his strength. A couple seconds later, however, the task became all the more difficult, however, when more armed reinforcements arrived with several reprogrammed combat androids.

The barrage of fire they sent his way forced Mason to split his focus between the gunmen and the speedster, which left him more open to attack from either side. When Emerald joined the shower of bullets, she was able to get a couple good shots off on his hip and leave Mason staggered for the grey-haired teen to kick him flat in the gut and throw the berserker to the floor.

Mason was going to get back up, but the many guards began surrounding him and had their weapons trained on different parts of his body. In response, Mason let out a weak chuckle. "Don't suppose some of you guys might consider keeling over and letting me win?"

"Orders, ma'am?" one of them asked as the redhead looked about for where the woman was. His eyes widened slightly when he saw that she was engaged in combat with SK while Roman Torchwick picked himself off the ground.

He was losing.

"Open fire! Make sure he stays down!" she said in between dealing and blocking strikes from the rogue. However, before the circle of armed men were able to fire on him, the redhead heard a single line that told him he was getting his way out of this.

"Lights out." As T said this, the lights in the hangar hanging above them went out, before subsequent gunfire could be heard. What was different about this was that the gunshots were not that of the rifles and pistols the White Fang or the Blue Boys carried.

No, those were the Dust rounds of an androids built-in weapon's system.

The blackout also provided the berserker with the necessary distraction to break out of the circle by hacking a Faunus in the chest while the others began firing in every direction, searching for a target.

Mason wasted no time in taking down the rest of the guards that had been watching him as the lights came back on. They flickered back to life one by one, revealing that he had been right in his assumption; the androids were firing on the White Fang.

Confused and in a state of panic, the guards didn't react to the friendly-fire at first and their numbers were cut in half. This changed, however, when Cinder launched a powerful fireball that blew apart the group of androids standing near the entrance to the hangar, blasting hot metal in all directions.

For now, it seemed that the only people in the hangar were Mason himself, SK, Cinder, her cronies and Roman Torchwick.

That was when it clicked; Tanner and T were gone.

Before the lights went out, Tanner was still being held down by the heterochromatic girl while T knelt patiently next to her. Now, they were both gone and Neo was on the ground looking like she had just been hit by a Creep.

Mason was about to face off against Emerald and Mercury, who stood side-by-side ready to take him on, when his attention was suddenly drawn to a loud ringtone coming from one of the corpses near him.

The redhead held up a finger to the two as he bent down to dig the Scroll out of the man's pocket as well as a grenade he carried, priming it the second it was in his hand. Looking at the caller ID on the screen, Mason was surprised to see that all it said was 'T', but shrugged it off a second later. "Hold on guys, I've got to take this!" he told the two as he threw the grenade at them. The explosive detonated before either of them could intercept it, and the blast caused both the mint-haired girl and the grey-haired boy to dive for cover.

"Hello, Mason Mars here!" he answered cheerfully as he put the Scroll to his ear.

"Listen very carefully; if we want to get out of here, here's what we need to do."

* * *

SK struggled as it is to deal with Torchwick alone – he underestimated the criminal's fighting ability, but to fight Cinder and the orange-haired man at around the same time was really pushing the limit of his abilities. Already, he had received cuts and several bullet grazes on his arms and legs, and just barely managed to shift his focus back to the ash-haired woman after blasting Torchwick back with a beam of energy.

It helped now that Mason was focusing his offensive efforts on the guards, as it drew their fire onto the berserker instead of the rogue.

His sword-fighting ability was nearly equal to that of Cinder, albeit a little slower to block and deflect strikes. The problem came whenever Cinder used her abilities; sending out a pulse of energy, a fireball or even firing shards of glass at him. At such close range, the rogue had little way of protecting against such attacks, and was forced to dodge each time.

The situation was beginning to play to his advantage, however, as the fighting had moved them towards the back of the hangar, where there were fewer lights and there was makeshift cover by ducking behind all the airship parts.

Ducked behind the engine of a Bullhead to avoid a shower of glass from Cinder, SK was hastily swapping out the cylinder of Dust in his falchion in preparation to blast the woman back with a laser beam.

As soon as the sound of glass hitting metal stopped, SK popped out of cover and took aim, firing a stream of Dust energy at the woman. His eyes widened in shock when Cinder responded by dropping one of her swords and raising her hand to deflect the blast with her palm.

The beam scorched the walls and ceiling of the hangar, like a ray of sun reflecting off a mirror, as the half-Maiden tried to control the direction the beam was sent, grunting with the exertion.

SK kept it up, hoping that Cinder would lose focus before his power reserves ran dry, but his hopes were cut short when a hand grabbed the fabric of his collar not five seconds after he had begun firing on the woman.

Off-balance, SK couldn't fight back as the hand pulled him backwards, threw him over someone's shoulder and slammed him into the ground. The force of the throw left the rogue disoriented, though he tried to right himself as soon as he got a sense of which direction was the ground.

His eyes cracked open just in time to see Raiden put the barrel of his shotgun-sword to the rogue's temple.

The rogue felt the breath in his throat catch as he stared into the dark chamber of the gun, faintly seeing the buckshot gauge in the back of the gun. _Or is it just my imagination?_ From the gun, SK's gaze travelled up the gun's frame to meet Raiden's eyes. He couldn't read the shadowcaster's expression, but even someone like SK could tell that there was a cold, unwavering resolve to them.

A second passed by in silence before they both heard Cinder's voice. "Kill him." Both teens turned to her at the same time before they turned back to stare at one another.

"You're going to regret this." SK muttered while his hand tried to feel for his blade without looking.

Raiden bobbed his head in a nod before replying. "Yeah, probably." SK was about to turn invisible in one last-ditch effort to escape when the teen suddenly turned his shotgun on Cinder and fired.

It was safe to say that the rogue was more surprised at Raiden's actions than the fact that Cinder was able to block the shot with her hand. A second passed where the ash-haired woman just glared at the shadowcaster, before she looked like she was about to say something. Cinder didn't get a chance to as the teen used the hand on the grip of his shotgun to throw a pulse of shadows that sent the woman flying into a bunch of wooden crates, smashing them when she landed.

"Get up!" the teen demanded offering a hand for the rogue, which he begrudgingly accepted. "You and your pals better have a plan to get out of this one."

SK shrugged his shoulders uncertainly. "They're probably improvising something right now." On cue, an explosion reverberated through the airbase, drawing the attention of both teens eventhough neither could see it.

Cinder was just beginning to get back up when Raiden shoved SK on the shoulder. "Go, I'll take care of her."

"This doesn't make us friends!" the rogue stated for the second time that night before turning and making his exit, only to have his way blocked by Emerald, Mercury and Neo.

* * *

Rolling off a Blue Boy with a cane-sword, Tanner fired a Dust round at a group of White Fang goons taking cover behind a raised barricade before spinning around to stab the man in the back.

Meanwhile, the White Fang had finally managed to reposition their gun emplacements so that they could turn far enough to fire at the swordsman, forcing him to duck for cover behind an overturned, blown-out jeep that he destroyed.

He was about to fumble for his Scroll to call T when a Mistrali android rounded the jeep and lunged at Tanner with its arm-blade extended. The brunette easily deflected the attack with his sabre before going in for a cross-cut to decapitate the android. The lifeless hunk of metal dropped to the floor as Tanner began fishing out his Scroll.

T had already explained to him that the androids were not on their side, as he could not reprogram them to tell between friend-n-foe. Instead, what the hacker had done was set them off to kill anything that moved.

This also meant that Tanner had to deal with them along with the regulars. "T, how's that escape ship coming along?" Tanner asked into his Scroll, knowing he was on a hotline with the cyborg.

"Focus on destroying the Dust supplies and weapons." T replied, his tone monotonous despite the clear sounds of gunfire from the other end of the line. "Do your job, Mason will do his, SK will do his and we'll all get out of this one."

"Mind explaining what the endgame of this plan is?" he asked as the machine gun turret stopped firing. Popping out of cover, the swordsman saw that the White Fang were trying to fix a jam in the firing mechanism, and took the opportunity to toss a grenade that he picked off one of the Blue Boys at them.

With his Semblance, Tanner managed to cause the grenade to detonate at his command with an even greater result. Keeping the Scroll to his ear for a second longer, the swordsman eventually lowered it when he received no reply from the other end.

 _Take out the stores of Dust and weapons, he says. This will work, he says._ It seemed the White Fang were more determined to protect this place than run for their lives, and that was saying something considering Mason was on the loose.

Tanner took a second first to flex his off-hand in front of his face, surging his Aura through it to make sure he had enough to fire up his Semblance again before running for the nearest crate of Dust. Even though T had removed the Aura Restraint that they had slapped on him, it would still take a few minutes before the swordsman's Aura rose back to full power.

Despite this, enough time had passed that Tanner could pull off a couple moves without feeling like he had just run a marathon, and this showed in the way he fought through another line of White Fang guards, charged up a shot in his pistol and caused the reserve of Dust to fly nine feet into the air with the force of the explosion that shot it upward.

It was when the brunette took a second too long to admire his work that a Blue Boy with a stun baton came up from behind him and began choking him out with the baton from behind. With Tanner incapacitated, another Blue Boy – well, girl in this case – was able to come up from the front with a knife-gun hybrid and took aim.

Thinking on his feet, Tanner threw his pistol at the lady in front of him before grabbing the shaft of the baton over his neck. Channelling his Semblance through it, the Dust in the baton overcharged and sent an electrical shock through both men. When the gangster holding him let go, the brunette took a quick second to shake off the electricity running through his body before his hand went to the scarf around his neck.

Unfurling it in one pull, Tanner coursed his Aura through the Dust-enhanced fabric, causing it to catch fire, before swinging it at the gangsters. The searing heat of the fabric may not have been enough to kill them, but it did scorch their clothing, leave burn-marks across their body and left them unconscious, knocked out from the force of being hit a couple times by a flaming whip.

With the Blue Boys taken care of, Tanner bent down to pick up his gun, ready to face whatever White Fang terrorist or gangster was going to face him. However, instead of facing him like he expected, they were facing a pack of Grimm trying to tear down the fencing around the airbase.

 _Shit._

* * *

When Cinder got back to her feet, she had immediately given the signal that the others should not interfere with her fight against the shadowcaster. Now, the ash-haired woman had her swords drawn and was keeping her distance from the teen as they walked in a circle, their eyes never leaving one another.

Then, as Raiden opened his mouth to say something, Cinder lunged forward waving a hand in front of her to fire a barrage of flaming orbs in a wide arc. Raiden immediately raised a hand to form a pitch-black barrier in front of him, taking the explosive blast of the orb as it made contact.

As the orb broke the barrier, the black-haired teen had to raise his longsword to intercept a downward slash from both of the half-Maiden's swords. Cinder took the advantage and pressed her offense, slashing again and again with both her swords in tandem as Raiden was pushed further and further backwards.

Judging by the fact he hadn't blown her away with an overkill of his Semblance, Cinder took an educated guess that the boy's Aura was still recovering from its exertion throughout the day.

This played both to Cinder's advantage and to her disadvantage; for one, she knew that she would not have to deal with Raiden's unnecessarily flashy attacks that she'd have to match move-for-move with her own powers. On the other hand, the woman had rarely seen Raiden fight so…conventionally, and had little knowledge of what he would do.

Eventually, it was when Cinder began to tire in her constant strikes that Raiden found an opening to parry her blades effectively and launch out a kick to her stomach. The sudden attack sent Cinder back a metre as Raiden transformed his sword into its shotgun mode in the blink of an eye.

He took a step closer to the woman before firing, which she blocked with an energy barrier that she channelled through her weapons. Then, to Cinder's surprise, Raiden slung his weapon onto his back before spinning in a circle, dipping his hands low as he went. As he made his return to face her, Cinder saw that a mass of shadows had accumulated in his hands and barely had a second to react as Raiden sent it forwards in a powerful surge.

Dodging out of the way, the woman didn't nearly get far away enough from the surge to not get caught by it, and was sent tumbling across the ground by the force of the dark wave as she lost her grip on her swords and they were sent flying. She managed to stop herself with minimal injury, and she turned to glare over her shoulder at the shadowcaster when she did. "I should've known you would betray me."

"Betray you?" Raiden parroted in a mocking tone. "You were never going to let me run off anyway."

Cinder then looked back down to her hands, which were now focusing her Maiden powers into a concentrated ball of fire, no larger than a baseball. "Maybe you're right." She muttered, just loud enough to be heard by him, before turning around and launching the fireball at Raiden.

When Raiden made a move to block the blast with his hand, his eyes widened in surprise when the fireball did not break against the shadows he put up in front of himself, but exploded violently like a bomb, throwing him backwards and directly into a heavy, metal workbench.

"I suppose it doesn't matter anymore what I was going to do with you, since you have just sealed your fate with your actions." Cinder declared as she walked to retrieve her weapons and linked them together to form her bow-blade.

Meanwhile, Raiden was still recovering from the force of the impact with the bench, which left a ringing in his ears and a throbbing pain in his head. His vision cleared up just enough in time to see Cinder string three arrows in her bow at once, all aimed towards him.

"You don't have the last say in my fate, Fall." Raiden declared as he made to stand up. The second he moved, Cinder released all the arrows she had readied and each flew at an incredible speed. However, Raiden reacted quickly enough that he was able to dodge the first two by rolling across the workbench before blocking the last one by breaking it with his longsword.

Immediately after that, the shadowcaster channelled his Aura into his good leg before kicking out at the workbench in front of him, sending it sliding across the concrete ground towards Cinder as if he had kicked a ball.

Instead of dodging the attack, the ash-haired woman drew another arrow and fired it at the makeshift projectile, causing it to explode and disintegrate into embers before it even reached her.

"I have to say; when I first met you, you had a lot of potential." Cinder spoke with venom in her words as she took a vial off her belt. "I thought I could teach you – fix your one flaw that would have allowed you to be so much more, but now I see that your arrogance is something that cannot be fixed." With the sharp-end of her bow, the ash-haired woman cut the top off the vial and threw its contents in Raiden's direction. As it tumbled through the air, the powder sparkled in the overhead lights in the hangar before clumping together into shards of glass.

Several orange engravings on the shards glowed briefly before fading as they flew towards Raiden with the speed of one of Cinder's arrows.

At first, Raiden was going to dodge out of the way of the shards, but thought better of it when he saw how the shards seemed to close in on his position. Instead, he intercepted the first one with his blade while simultaneously building up energy in his free hand before unleashing it as a repulse that was able to throw most of the shards off course and away from him.

It was not enough, however, to stop the last two shards from meeting their mark. One jabbed itself into his thigh while the other caught him in the torso, stabbing into him, but not without enough force to cut too deep. With a firm grip, he pulled each out and allowed it to clatter to the floor.

The embers continued to flutter by her as she stood in a ready position. "Are you ready to actually start fighting, then?" Raiden asked as he stabbed his longsword into the ground and summoned the shadows around him to gather at his fist.

Cinder gave Raiden a sidelong look at first, as if asking him if he was actually challenging her, before she slung the bow onto her back and drew on her concentration to channel her powers. In that moment of concentration, nothing else mattered to the ash-haired woman. She blocked out all external distractions as best she could; ignoring the sounds of gunfire and explosions coming from outside, ignoring the shouts of White Fang and gangsters alike, ignoring the fact that the whole stronghold was falling apart and the concerns of what to do after.

All that mattered was the man in front of her, and defeating him once and for all.

The half-Maiden's arms caught fire from the elbow down as two flames engulfed either of her fists. Cinder raised them in a fighting stance as Raiden paused for a second before letting out a groan of frustration. "Come on, how is that fair?"

The half-Maiden gave no reply and responded with action instead, taking off at a sprint towards the shadowcaster as he breathed out a sigh and sprinted to intercept her. The two met in the middle of the hangar where they brought their fists to bear on one another, which resulted in a shockwave that threw them to either end of the hangar and sent a ripple of energy through the entire airbase.

* * *

SK was in a tight weapon-lock with Neo when the shockwave from inside the hangar shook the whole airbase and caused him to lose his footing, allowing Neo to get in a good couple jabs before a spinning kick to his side from Mercury threw him to the ground with no Aura left to shield him.

Within seconds of him being kicked to the floor, Emerald was there and ready to kick him again – first in the chest, then in his right hand to knock the blade out of his grip.

This time, the mint-haired girl didn't hesitate to pull the triggers on her guns, but the bullets just slammed into the ground as SK rolled out of the way of their fire. It was only as he was rolling did he remember that he wasn't just fighting Emerald, and checked his surroundings a little too slowly to notice Neo standing right in front of him with the rapier hidden inside her parasol unsheathed and raised into the air.

Though he tried to stop, the rogue ended up being pinned to the ground when Neo brought the rapier-like blade down on him just as he rolled onto his back, stabbing all the way through his left forearm. SK had to bite on his lower lip to stifle the cry of pain that followed the attack, and felt rather than saw time begin to slow down as Neo drew the sword out of his arm and raised it right over where his heart was.

Too tired to fight back, with no real way of escaping as his right hand clamped defensively on the wound in his left arm to apply pressure to it, SK could only brace himself for the attack.

However, the sound of a shotgun gauge going off drew Neo's attention, and in a second she had her parasol open and the blade sheathed back into its neck. The pellets from the shotgun shell bounced harmlessly off the parasol's top, but the attack was followed up when Mason lunged forward to bring his longsword down. "D-d-d-d-denied!"

To avoid the attack, Neo gracefully took a step backwards and fell out of the redhead's kill-zone. It was then that Mercury tried to strike a kick out at the berserker, which was deflected out of the way when Mason raised Bas – still in its shotgun form – and redirected the kick upwards.

Mason then followed through with his momentum by taking a swing at Mercury with his sword, followed by another swing from his shotgun as he completed the spin. The grey-haired speedster was able to parry the first attack with a roundhouse kick, but didn't have the momentum or balance to deflect the other swing and had to backpedal by landing on the foot he swung out with in his roundhouse kick and pivoting around on it.

As Mason slowed his spinning to a stop, he also aimed his shotgun over at Emerald and took a shot at her. Off-guard, Emerald could only raise her weapons in a cross in front of her and brace for the impact. Her Aura took the brunt of the blast, but the force behind it still sent her back a couple metres.

Though it hadn't been his best attempt yet, the redhead had succeeded in his aim of driving his three enemies away far enough that he could holster his shotgun by hanging it from the clip of his hip and offer his hand to help SK back to his feet.

"Get up and fight!" Mason demanded, and the rogue only hesitated for a second before complying and pulling himself to his feet.

He looked to his empty hands for a moment, trying to channel his Semblance but only managing to make his palms fade out of existence briefly before clenching his fists and getting into a defensive stance. "Well, there's no running this time."

"In retrospect; there wasn't anywhere you guys could really _run_ to and get away from us." Mercury quipped as he slowly began to circle the two like a predator. Looking to his left and right, Mason found the others doing the same, as they all seemed to be trying to fall into some formation.

Instinctively, the two stood back-to-back against one and faced their opponents. "Really? It seems a lot of the times things fall right out of your reach – like victory." SK shot back.

"Those going to be your final words?" the speedster asked with a chuckle.

"No, I think the words he's looking for is, 'Is that a Beowulf'?" Mason corrected, drawing a confused expression from Mercury.

"Is what a Beow-" a low growl from right behind him cut the teen off as he froze before pivoting around quickly to see the creature of Grimm crouched right behind him, right before it pounced.

The large creature instantly knocked Mercury on his back and pinned him to the ground, giving SK the opportunity to slip away that he needed. The rogue made a beeline for his sword, but halted when a flash of light appeared right in front of him, blinding him for a split-second before Neo stepped out of it and took a jab at him with the blunt tip of her parasol.

Throwing the full weight of his body away from the strike, SK was able to avoid being hit and quickly threw out one of his legs towards the heterochromatic girl to kick her feet and ruin her stance. His foot made contact and Neo stumbled slightly as SK used the opening to throw himself into a summersault and grab his falchion.

The second he righted himself, Neo was on him, swinging with her parasol and dodging any strike SK returned while the rogue had to use both his bracer and sword to block her offensive. Meanwhile, Emerald was providing cover for Mercury as he got back to his feet, having just worked together to kill the Beowulf that was attacking him. The two fought in tandem; with Mercury striking out at any Grimm that got too close while Emerald took on targets at a longer range.

Mason was having the time of his life on his side of the battlefield, as more and more Grimm continued to pour in and overrun the White Fang. His Aura was flaring off his hair and skin at this point, as each successful blow he dealt only gave him more strength to hit harder. A pack of Creeps made the mistake of trying to take him on, and he decimated them with one hit each. The berserker was so charged after that, it only took one swing from him after to bisect the next Ursa he came across.

All the while, the White Fang continued to lose ground against the three teens, the Grimm and any androids that were still going haywire. Many that tried to evacuate to the remaining airships ran right into Tanner, while others that tried to flee by land had to get past any Grimm that lurked in the treelines.

"I'm running low on Dust!" SK yelled out to anyone that was listening as he pivoted on one foot to avoid a slash from Neo, while simultaneously slapping a new canister into Yakmak's chamber, now transformed into its beam-rifle mode.

SK took one last glance at Neo, who stood roughly two metres from him, before a shiver along his skin coming from his left warned him of a threat and he turned to face it. Neo similarly had to turn to face a large Grimm that was attacking her as well. Without much effort, the midnight-haired boy was able to dodge out of the way of the Beowulf's attacks before blasting its limbs off with his energy beams, leaving its body to disintegrate as he turned back to face the illusionist.

The heterochromatic girl had just finished impaling the Creep that had chosen to attack her when she was subsequently blown into the air by an explosion near her feet. Turning to look for the source of the explosion, SK's eyes fell on Tanner, who was running up to him and breathing very heavily.

"Evening." He wheezed out, clearly exhausted as they both watched Neo slow her descent by opening up her parasol.

"What's happening now?" SK asked as he took a few shots at Neo with his rifle – missing each time.

"Got the last of their major Dust reserves. Didn't bother with the White Fang – they were all ignoring me anyway. Grimm are trickling in, but it's only going to get worse from here out." Tanner explained between breaths. "It's also good to see that you didn't bail on us."

"You didn't think I'd really leave you – watch out!" SK started, but interrupted himself as he swung his sword-rifle towards Tanner's head. Reflexively, the brunette ducked under the swing and it caught the face of a Beowulf instead. Turning to finish it off, the swordsman thrust Beofield through its thigh before dragging it up in a cross-cut. "-didn't think I'd really leave you guys behind?"

"Never doubted you for a second." Tanner replied automatically and half-heartedly. Truth be told; he didn't care if SK had intended to ditch them or not, only that he came back at the right moment.

"When else am I going to get such a good chance to get back at Cinder?" he asked rhetorically as Tanner caught motion from around him and shoved the black-haired teen out of the way to fire a shot at an approaching Creep. "What's our exit plan?"

"Not too sure. All T said was 'do your job and we'll all get out of this'." Tanner elaborated with more than a hint of frustration before the two fell back-to-back.

"That sounds very much like him."

"At least he has a plan to get us out of here."

"Probably, yeah."

SK heard it in the wind before seeing Mason's body get thrown his way, and took a quick side-step to avoid being hit by the hundred pounds of redhead. He and Tanner then turned to face Cinder's three cronies as the number of Grimm around them seemed to have dwindled, and they now had a chance to continue fighting one another.

"I'm ok!" Mason announced as he stood back to his feet.

"Ready for round two?" Tanner asked no one in particular as everyone fell into a battle stance.

Before anyone could reply, however, the sound of engines and wind being swept about could be heard before they were blinded by a bright light.


	28. Chapter 23

**A/N: Sorry about the wait for this chapter, especially since I kinda left it at a cliffhanger the last time, but I've been working on a bunch of other stuff in between then and now, and have only just recently gotten this done. Before moving on to read the story, I just wanted to talk a little about the whole issue with Malaysia and . If you aren't really affected by this little...development or just don't really care, you can skip the rest of the A/N and just go on to reading the story. If not, It'd be nice to hear your thoughts on it as well.**

 **I've always known Malaysia as a country that cracks down on media and censorship because its people are sensitive to this sort of stuff, but I just really don't see what they hope to accomplish by banning this wonderful website. The only thing they're going to get out of this is repressing creative Malaysian authors who have produced wonderful works on this website, as well as preventing other M'sians from enjoying other people's works.**

 **Hopefully one day the Malaysian government sees how this ban will only cause more harm than good, but until then its sad to say that the wonderful, colorful country of Malaysia has become one of the only TWO countries in the world to ban this website.**

 **Apologies for going on a bit of a rant, I just needed to get this out of my system.**

Out of The Embers

 **Six Minutes Ago…**

Despite having spent most of his arsenal in the fight earlier that day, T still had a few spare explosives and breach charges that he stored in his prosthetic. With some careful planning and placing, he was able to plant them on nearly every airship and vehicle parked in careful rows on the airfields.

Of course, that still left the issue about the vehicles already in use to fend off the encroaching Grimm and the others, but T would cross that bridge when he got to it.

After the distraction caused by SK breaking Mason loose, T had been able to mentally activate his Scroll's local networking function. He was grateful enough that Cinder had given the technology at the base an upgrade, as the power converter or transformer that regulated power to the rest of the building used a wireless signal to connect to Scrolls in order to remotely run diagnostics or reroute power.

From it, it was a simple matter of temporarily overloading the mains to cause a blackout. Under the cover of darkness, he had worked quickly to fry the magnetic bolt on his robot arm, throw Neo to the floor and rush to the cart where they had taken his pistol to retrieve his weapons.

He made himself scarce before the lights came back on, only having to kill one or two goon on his way out. After that, he began his plan of finding a way off the airfield, while also leaving Cinder and the others stranded here for when the Grimm were eventually attracted by the gunfire and fighting.

After strapping a few more improvised explosives to a jeep – which he looted off the body of a White Fang goon who tried to start it up, T was getting ready to move onto the next phase of his plan.

The hacker had to duck as a shower of bullets impacted the jeep he was taking cover behind. Cinder's goons had become reckless and disoriented ever since the Grimm arrived to start tearing up the place, breaking formation from their garrisons and squads and forming their own groups of trigger-happy militiamen. In their confused and panicked state, they fired on anything that wasn't wearing their colours, spreading out without a clear formation as they focussed more on surviving than worrying about what their bosses wanted them to do.

Another jeep with a mounted machinegun sped by T's cover, firing at a pursuing Ursa, as the hacker bounded from out of cover towards the group that had fired on him. Quickly marking his targets with his cybernetic eye, T fired with a submachine gun he had stripped off the body of another White Fang goon as he realised he was running low on pistol magazines.

The wide scatter of bullets that T unleashed met their marks as he swung his aim from one target to the next without releasing the trigger. The weapon's rate of fire was faster than T's eye could track, but he knew that the bullets met their marks from the way the White Fang goons staggered and their Aura shuddered from the impacts.

Running the whole time, T closed the distance between him and the three goons just before the SMG clicked dry. When it did, the hacker picked a target and threw the weapon at him, hitting the Faunus in the head as he dealt a series of hard, quick jabs at the others. Though he didn't hit them hard enough to knock them off their feet, each punch that landed worked to stagger them long enough for T to disarm one of the goons – a dog Faunus – of his rifle. Quickly driving the butt of the gun into the gut of its former owner, T fired from the hip as he fired enough rounds to break through the Aura of the other two goons, leaving them with several bullet wounds in their abdomen as they fell to the ground.

With the goons neutralised, T began scanning the airfield for one of the smaller clusters of airships that he had seen earlier. The hacker had enough time to think through his extraction plan ever since he had managed to slip away from Cinder, and while he would have liked it to be as simple as calling Overwatch and requesting that she bring the Bullhead, he knew that – in its current state, the Bullhead was not suited for a rapid extraction from an area as hot with activity as this one. Not to mention, depending on when his GPS finally synced with the local Scroll relay, the ship might not have enough fuel remaining to make the journey here _and_ back to The Compound.

Therefore, the only solution left was to take one of the airships docked here – and blow up all the other vehicles as insurance that they would not be followed.

After taking a quick sweep of his surroundings and locating one of the groups of airships that he had not rigged to explode yet, T took off at a sprint as another mounted jeep drove by and fired a trail of bullets at him. The shots impacted the ground near his feet, and the fragments of concrete it kicked up caused his Aura to flicker, but none hit him directly.

The vehicle followed him persistently despite T's best attempts at shaking it in the open stretch of airfield. Taking into account the number of Grimm sprawling across the remaining stretch of airfield between him and the airships, the hacker estimated that he wouldn't make it very far with the machinegun on his tail. In a split second, T made a decision to use one of the two reserve explosive bolts that he kept stored in his arm, switching his prosthetic into its crossbow mode, and firing it directly at the oncoming jeep.

Granted, the explosion was not as large as some of the other, larger bolts that T usually carried, but it worked well enough to throw the jeep on its side, spilling out its occupants as they lay prone and still from the shock.

Without having to worry about the jeep, T turned his attention on the Grimm standing in his way with his pistol drawn. Firing only when necessary, the hacker weaved in between the Grimm in front of him as quickly as he could while being careful not to let any get too close, lest his anxiety get the better of him.

Fires from incendiary weaponry and the burning remains of vehicles lit up the black fur and pale bony armour of the Grimm as T passed, making them look even more demonic in the low light of night. Though his eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, passing close by the flames caused the vision his cybernetic eye to flare momentarily, outlining the Grimm as pitch-black shapes against the light.

Despite this, T was able to make it to the cluster of airships with only having to spend a clip of bullets and drive the knife that sprang out of his prosthetic arm into the skull of a Creep. Being so disconnected from the Remnant network and stripped of his power made T felt vulnerable, as if the giants he used to fight with ease were now much more powerful. However, he was able to find better cover among the airships and could more easily dispatch Grimm in the closer quarters.

Being around machines that he could control might also have had something to do with the wave of reassurance he felt.

Not wanting to remain out in the open any longer, T quickly dived into the open compartment of the nearest Bullhead and made his way to the cockpit as fast as he could. Whipping out his Scroll, T put it to the monitor in the pilot's seat as he started up the vehicle, almost immediately beginning the synchronisation process between the two.

However, a second had barely passed to allow the devices to pair before a hard metal hook grabbed T by the shoulder and hurled him back across the hull of the ship's floor. Looking up, the hacker saw Roman Torchwick standing a few feet away with a cocky smirk on his face. Before he could have said anything else, T fired off three shots from his silenced pistol while stuffing his phone in his coat pocket.

None of the rounds met their mark as Torchwick deflected each shot with his cane, each time taking a stride closer to T before getting close enough to kick the gun out of the hacker's hand. The weapon skid across the ground before just falling out of the open hatch of the airship as it was losing momentum.

"You're pretty crafty, T, I'll give you that." Torchwick said in mocking compliment. "I'd go on a rant at how much effort, resources and man-power you've cost us in one go today, but something tells me you wouldn't really care." The end of Melodic Cudgel was then pressed against T's throat, squeezing his windpipe slightly.

"You're right, I wouldn't!" T hissed out as he swiped with his leg, kicking Roman in the side of his right knee. The blow caused the crime lord to buckle slightly, giving T the chance he needed to grab the end of the cane with his left hand and aim it slightly right of his face, narrowly avoiding a concussive blast to the face as Torchwick pulled the trigger to fire.

That was not to say that the hacker broke away from this scot-free, however, as the explosion still went off close enough to give him a mild concussion as his sensitive ears rung from the roar of the blast. T pushed all this aside as he fought through the pain, rolling out from under Torchwick and onto his front where he pushed himself up by his prosthetic arm.

As he turned, the ginger-haired criminal was already swinging his cane to strike T in the hip, but the hacker blocked the attack with his left wrist while going in for a sucker punch with his right.

Even though all he could hear for the time being was a high-pitched ringing in his ears, he still felt the force of his arm making contact with Roman's face through the cybernetic nerves in the arm – nerves that relayed the touch and temperature sense to him, but not things like pain or texture.

Torchwick's mouth opened in a silent yell as he struck back, first with a punch directed to T's gut then with his cane, aimed at the side of his head. T was able to catch the punch with his right arm, but didn't respond quickly enough to the cane aimed at his head.

Raising his left arm, the hard metal of Melodic Cudgel hit his wrist at a bad angle and sent a spike of pain shooting through his whole left arm.

Roman saw this in T's eyes almost instantly and quickly took advantage of it, pressing his advance as the hacker turned to keep his left side as far away from the ginger as possible while fighting with only his right.

He managed well enough with only his right arm while shaking the numbing pain from his left arm, blocking each of the strikes that Roman sent his way. Eventually, Torchwick realised what the hacker was doing and changed his fighting style, dealing light, quick jabs and swings instead of heavy ones so that T could not block them all.

All the while, T kept trying to shake the numb feeling of needles being jabbed all along his left arm. As soon as the feeling left enough for the hacker to feel comfortable wielding a weapon, he reached under his brown long-coat for an emergency retractable harpoon that he kept only for the most desperate of moments. With a quick flick, the harpoon extended to its full length as he brought it around to try and stab Torchwick a split-second later.

The ginger saw the attack coming the second he made it, however, and effortlessly parried the strike out of the way, creating an opening right between him and T. Bringing his cane back around, Torchwick tried to fire off a point-blank shot that, no matter how fast he moved, T had no way of dodging.

Instead, the cyborg raised his right arm and cupped his hand over the end of Melodic Cudgel just as Roman pulled the trigger, catching the brunt of the blast but still managing to carry enough force to throw him out the open hatch of the airship.

T landed with a tumble before righting himself, balancing on both legs and one arm extended to the ground. His eyes instantly found his pistol, glinting in the low light right by the open hatch. Seeing no way of making it to the gun without being first shot at by Torchwick, the hacker shifted the weight of the harpoon in his left hand and threw it at the crime lord like a javelin.

Twirling out of the way of the oncoming projectile, Torchwick managed to dodge the harpoon with minimal effort, the harpoon stabbing into the hull of the ship instead. Spinning back around, he reached for something just out of T's view and causing the hatch to slide shut.

Caught off-guard by the suddenness of Torchwick's actions, T hesitated for just a second before making the sprint to his pistol, holding it in a ready position as soon as he got his hands around it. He held his aim on the closed door for a second, wondering if Roman was going to open it again and try to get the drop on him, however when nothing happened after a couple of seconds, T quickly began making his way around the airship to its cockpit – determined to end the ginger-haired man with a bullet through the glass.

Halfway to the fore of the ship, T jumped back when the engines suddenly shot to life and the airship began rising off the ground. Hot air was being blown in all directions from under it and it caused the hacker's overcoat to flap and flutter as he rooted his feet to the ground and stared up at the airship defiantly when the front light came on and focussed on him, blinding him for all of a second.

With his enhanced vision, T could literally see Torchwick's shit-eaten grin as he stared down at the hacker from his vantage point. A second later, his maniacal cackling came across over the intercom of the ship.

"Did you really think you were going to get out of this alive?" T heard before he saw the weapons systems on the airship cycling up and prepared to duck for cover as the machine guns began spitting white-hot Dust rounds. However, T didn't have to move a step as they missed him by several metres and struck the airship on his far right instead. The process was repeated for the airship on his left before the guns trained back on him. "Any last words, street rat?"

Even over the sounds of battle, T heard his Scroll give off a chime to indicate it had received a notification. Pulling it out of his pocket, he saw that the program he had been running had finished syncing with the on-board controls of the airship.

Staring back up at Torchwick, T held up a middle-finger with his right hand as he used his left to find the function to lock up the instruments in the cockpit and transfer the ship's control to auto-pilot – the auto-pilot he _controlled_ from his Scroll.

Despite having muted the outgoing intercom on the airship, T thought he could almost hear Torchwick's shouts of confusion as the airship turned away from the hacker as he began considering his options.

His thoughts were cut short when a growl from his side indicated that the Grimm he had previously avoided had finally caught up with him. Without a second thought, T tapped a few commands into his Scroll to sync to the airship and paint targeted areas around him for the auto-targeting to spray with rounds.

A Beowulf was able to close in on him before the airship started firing, and T was forced to first dodge out of the way of its tackle before spinning back around to deliver a solid punch to the crook of its hind-leg, causing it to buckle to the ground as T jumped on top of it and rammed his folding knife into its neck repeatedly.

Only after he was sure it was dead did T stand back up to his full height and begin reassessing the situation.

The primary problem that T needed a resolution to was the crime lord inside the airship he was controlling. Because Roman had not yet destroyed the last airship parked alongside the others he had, T still had an additional option for escape, and while he could have just as easily gotten into the airship and shot the one Torchwick was in down, it was inefficient to both time and resources, in which Torchwick could find a way to override the auto-pilot.

Therefore, the most time and resource-efficient solution that came to T's mind was the crash the airship somewhere that would deal collateral damage to Cinder's already dwindling forces, while additionally killing Roman Torchwick in the process.

Scanning the airfield as the ship's auto-targeting system peppered the ground around him with bullets, keeping the Grimm away, T saw the battles still raging in front of the hangar that he and the others had been held in, along with the occasional burst or flame or pulse of darkness.

T ran a few numbers through his head before coming to a decision. He whipped out his Scroll and, relative to the airship's current trajectory, plotted a course that would take it straight into the hangar at full speed.

The gunfire quickly stopped around him as the weapons on the airship retracted while it began rotating in mid-air. In his mind, he imagined Torchwick yelling in frustration as the airship flew towards the front of the hangar at his command, stopping briefly to shine its lights down on the six combatants locked in battle before being suddenly propelled forwards by the force of all its backward thrusters going off while firing every readily available weapon into the hangar as it crashed at full speed.

All the while, the hacker was busy climbing into the seat of the other available airship, lifting off as soon as he had his hands on the flight controls.

* * *

 **1 Minute Ago…**

"Is that all you got, Fall?" Raiden breathed out in a tired wheeze. "Because…I can give…as good as you…got." The Shadowcaster said in between exhausted breaths as he picked himself off the ground.

Cinder was honestly surprised that the boy had lasted this long. While her powers were surely limited by how little she had drained off the Fall Maiden, the power seemed to change to fit her existing fighting style – complementing her attacks and techniques with more power than she could have dealt out previously.

The drain on her Aura that using the Magic took was still drastic, as its output was only roughly half of how much Aura she committed to the ability. However, Cinder was not arguing with the results. Without her weapons, the ash-haired woman left everything up to the glass she could move about and the Maiden's powers, trusting it to be enough to match Raiden Alexander's umbrakinesis.

And she was right. Leaving things to the raw power she possessed was doubtlessly more tiring just to put on a show, but she saw the way it frustrated the boy – made him painfully aware of how weak he really was.

Now that he could hardly fight back, Cinder went on the offensive, throwing streaks of fire and storms of glass his way that he could only dodge to avoid. The third streak of flames that she threw caught him in the shoulder, breaking through what little Aura remained and threw him to the floor.

As his prone body laid still, the half-Maiden watched in surprise as some of the faint shadows that surrounded him almost seemed to crawl towards his injured shoulder, attempting to shield it or heal it – Cinder couldn't tell which.

 _Pathetic._ She thought while summoning some of her remaining power to call her weapons back to her. They cluttered across the ground as the two blades returned to her hands. _It's not like he had much of a chance anyway. Now, nothing will save him._

She only got as far as three metres to Raiden, however, as a spray of machinegun fire and missiles blew the ajar hangar doors apart and an airship came speeding right towards her. Eyes wide in shock, Cinder quickly ducked under one of the ship's wings by first doing a backflip before lowering her body into a crouch. The sleek metal frame of the wing barely passed a hair's width over her head as the airship continued moving forward with its momentum before finally stopping five seconds later.

A moment occurred to Cinder where she suddenly felt deaf to the world as she took in the destruction around her. The hangar laid in ruins; crates of supplies and weapons had been completely obliterated while parts for vehicles and partially repaired ones lay in heaps of molten slag. The building's support structure had also been bent in and dented from all the fighting, and looked as if they might give way any second. Large patches and holes in the structure of the hangar had also been blasted open and were flaming – spreading wider as the fire ate at the wooden parts of the building. What's more, the bodies of many of the men she had hired were scattered about the open space of the hangar, some unconscious but breathing while others were not so lucky. She didn't have the time to come up with the exact numbers at the moment, but just from a glance Cinder could already see that the weeks of work she had spent personally building up forces here to prepare for her next move had been completely destroyed.

And all because of a band of expendable thugs.

The ash-haired woman clenched her hands into tight balls as she heard motion coming from within the airship, rattling as one of the hatches was forced open. She prepared and attack to strike at whatever came out of that ship, but had to suddenly stop herself when the near-unconscious body of Roman Torchwick fell out instead.

Halfway through the motions and in a blinding rage, Cinder almost skewered the ginger with a spear made of melted glass as he crumpled to the floor, striking the ground next to him instead, which caused him to roll onto his back and aim his cane at her. "Whoa, Boss! It's just me!" he shouted in an effort to deter Cinder's rage, which worked for once – much to Roman's surprise.

With the rage on her face still evident, she marched over to where Roman laid on the ground and picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "What. Happened?" she demanded, the look in her eyes promising to end Torchwick if he answered wrongly.

"The little twerp with the robot arm hacked my airship – what else?" Torchwick managed to wheeze out right before Cinder tossed him across the hangar floor, hitting the concrete hard before sliding across the ground for a couple of seconds.

"If you want something done right…" Cinder grumbled under her breath, holding her weapons at her sides as the lights of another airship flooded through the openings of the hangar entrance which were not obstructed by debris. "It's time to end this."

* * *

 **Meanwhile…**

It had all happened so quickly.

One moment SK was getting ready to take on Emerald again – preferably to finish her this time, then the next an airship – Vale-made twin engine model by the looks of it – came in low out of nowhere. The rogue was probably too distracted to notice it anyway even if it had been loud enough to hear over the fighting.

He had to squint and shield his eyes when the front lights of the airship shone down on them, but when he did he quickly noticed that Torchwick was the one in the cockpit after increasing the magnification on his glasses.

Upon realising who was in the pilot's seat, SK prepared to either defend himself or turn invisible when the crime lord began raining bullets down on them, but was stunned when the bullets and missiles from the airship missed him and the others completely and struck the hangar doors instead. He was even more shocked when the airship rammed into the hangar at full speed, crashing hard and throwing bits of debris and metal everywhere.

Tanner had to side-step out of a length of rebar that impaled the ground where he had been standing.

For a couple of seconds, no one moved as a couple combustible things exploded outwards from where the airship had crashed. SK even shot a confused glance towards Neo, who shrugged in response.

Eventually, Mercury spoke up. "What the hell just happened?"

"T?" Tanner said, leaving the question hanging.

"T." SK replied, absolutely sure that the cause of the airship crash had to be none other than the hacker.

"Well," Mason spoke up flipping the axe in his hand. "Everyone in there's probably dead."

"I think you're underestimating Roman Torchwick's survival chances." Tanner commented as he finally pulled his eyes away from the destruction. "Can't speak for the others though – now, where were we?" he asked rhetorically while taking a small shard of Fire Dust out of his pocket and creating a fireball in his palm from it. No sooner had he asked the question that he hurled it in Mercury's direction, missing by a few feet as they dodged out of the way of the warning shot.

Before any of them were able to fire back, however, a much faster, much hotter fireball sailed right by Tanner, who moved quickly enough to dodge out of its way, while its embers singed his black coat as it flew by. The fireball came from Cinder, who had emerged from the wreckage with a look of murder and pure hate on her face.

Almost reflectively, the black-haired rogue took a couple steps back and held his falchion out defensively. Looking out to his side, SK saw that even Mercury, Emerald and Neo backed away ever so slightly as he stood just a step in front of Tanner.

The only one that didn't seem intimidated by Cinder's display was Mason, who let out a boisterous laugh. "At last, I will have vengeance!" he shouted before charging straight at the ash-haired woman with yet another strange war cry that sounded more like gurgling.

Just as he got within a yard of the woman, Cinder suddenly raised her empty hand at him and blew Mason off his feet, sending him flying further away from her than where SK and Tanner stood with an amber pulse. He hit the ground hard as embers scattered from where he landed, losing his grip on both his weapons. Rolling onto his back, SK saw that the embers had come from his clothing, which were now burnt from Cinder's attack.

"That…probably wasn't the best idea." He groaned out as everyone turned their attention back on the half-Maiden.

"You four have no idea of the setbacks you've caused today." Cinder's tone was acidic, but surprisingly even and stable.

"Suppose I should take that as a compliment." Tanner replied back, keeping wary of any attacks that Cinder might try to lash out.

"You think too highly of yourselves. You're just vermin – pests that are hard to kill." The ash-haired woman shot back. "But now I am going to end this."

"You can try, bitch." Tanner said while raising his sabre. "But there's only one way this is going to end, and that's-" a surge of fire cut off the swordsman as he dodged to the side.

SK took the opportunity to lunge at Cinder with his blade raised, aiming for her exposed throat, not expecting the half-Maiden to react so quickly – let alone parry his strike and push him onto his back with a single empowered swipe from her duelling swords.

He tried to roll back to his feet as soon as his back hit the ground, but Cinder was quicker – firing a pair of glass shards that pinned him by his cowl to the ground. Before he knew it, the woman was already standing over him with one of her swords raised and ready to run him through.

She would have succeeded if the ground around them had not exploded with heavy calibre machinegun rounds from another airship that fired in two lines around them. To protect herself from the shower of dirt and concrete, Cinder raised both her hands to protect herself, giving SK the opportunity he needed to dislodge the glass shards holding him in place and rolling out of the way.

The jagged shards of glass left cuts on the palms of his hands and a couple stray bullets grazed his face and shoulder when he rolled out from under Cinder, but he counted his blessings and was just glad that he didn't have a hole in his chest.

When he finally righted himself again, SK saw that Cinder was now focussing her attention on the airship firing at her, sending volleys of fire and glass at it while it did its best to evade her attacks. Seeing a chance to get a shot off at the ash-haired woman, the rogue raised his falchion to eye-level while activating its laser rifle mode. As soon as he had her in his sights, however, his aim was thrown off when a kick from Mercury knocked his blade off aim and he turned his attention on the speedster.

"Oum dammit, Mercury! Why do you always ruin _everything_ I do?" SK shouted as he took a few steps backwards and adopted a defensive stance.

The silver-haired boy shrugged his shoulders before replying. "Dunno, must be a gift."

* * *

Tanner had a clear shot at Cinder when T flew in with his airship and began drawing her fire. Had being a past tense, however, as Emerald had engaged him as soon as Cinder's cronies recognised that even she was outmatched at this point.

At this point, the swordsman's attacks and defence were being heavily weighed down by the fatigue gained from all the fighting earlier. As such, his movement was much slower, and he couldn't summon his Aura as well to fight.

This seemed doubly so for Emerald, much to Tanner's relief, which put them on even ground once more because of how mutually tired they were.

"Just give up already, Em." Tanner shouted over the roar of machinegun fire when they broke away. "I'm considering just leaving you be right now if you drop your arms."

"Not this time, Tanner." Her voice was coming from his left and sounded much closer than it should have been, and before he could realise his mistake the mint-haired girl lunged at him, striking twice with her long-pistols and dropping the rest of the brunette's Aura as his body hit the floor.

She fired three times from her guns; missing Tanner twice before the third hit the guard of his sabre and knocked it out of his hands. At this point, Tanner was sure that even if he tried reaching for it, he wouldn't be able to move fast enough before Emerald put one between his eyes.

Instead, the swordsman raised his hands in surrender – almost daring Emerald to do it. _You won't do it._ His stare on her hardened at the thought. _I know I wouldn't if I were in your place._

For a moment, the look in the illusionist's eyes told Tanner that she going to actually shoot him dead, but she hesitated a second too long as a net of black chains flew into her left and wrapped themselves around her as it knocked her to the ground.

The girl hit the ground screaming and Tanner used the opportunity to scramble on all fours and knock the illusionist out with a single punch to the face. Hesitating for a second, the brunette put two of his fingers to the tanned girl's neck just to make sure that she still had a pulse, before his deductive reasoning kicked in and Tanner turned on the source of the dark chains.

Holding out one hand while the other rested on his knee, Raiden was breathing heavily from exertion as he lowered his outstretched hand, allowing the chains around Emerald to dissipate. "You?" Tanner asked, his brows furrowing in confusion as he slowly rose to full height.

"Yeah, me." He responded while leaning down to pick up Tanner's discarded weapon. "I don't know what you hope to gain out of this fight with Cinder, or why you're fighting her in the first place, but I have a hunch that if I want to live through this, I'm going to need to be on your side." The shadowcaster explained briefly before tossing the sword to the brunette.

Tanner caught it without much effort, holding it at his side as he took a few careful steps towards the black-haired boy. "Glad you could see reason. I'm not sure Cinder would be this merciful."

"Probably not, no." the sound of fire hitting metal drew their attention to the fight still going on between Cinder and the airship. "I'll help you get out of here, but you need to help me out in return."

"Sounds fair enough, now if we only had a-" Tanner was cut off by the strong buzz that his phone gave off in his pocket. Pausing, he reached down to find that T was calling him and answered the call without hesitation.

"Make some cover – I'm going in for a hot extraction. Be there and bring Raiden with you." T hissed before the brunette could even get a word out.

"Yeah, no problem. It's not like I'm out of Dust or something like that." Tanner mumbled while sliding his Scroll back into his pocket.

"What was that?" Raiden asked in between putting shells in his shotgun.

"T's got a plan to extract us, but we need to give him some area cover. Only problem is I'm out of Dust and nearly dry on Aura."

Raiden paused for a moment, seeing to think something over before looking at the inner lining of his black jacket. "What do you need?"

There was a brief expression of surprise on the swordsman's face as he wondered how any of them might still have Dust on them after all the fighting they've gone through, but he dismissed the thought quickly. "Fire and ice – as much as you've got."

The shadowcaster tossed three vials towards the brunette a second later. Catching two in one hand and the third in the other, Tanner looked them over to see that only one of them contained Fire Dust, while the other two had ice. "It's all I have left. I'd recommend checking the supplies in the hangar, but…" he thumbed in the direction of the burning hangar, and Tanner got the message.

"This will have to do." He muttered to himself while keeping his eyes trained on Cinder, waiting for a moment when he'd have an opening to get closer to her. He saw it when the ash-haired woman prepared a particularly powerful attack that took a while to build up. With her concentration on the attack and her target, Cinder hardly noticed Tanner taking a run towards her while the vials of Dust in his hands began to glow.

She fired off the surge of flame, which hit T's airship directly, but only seemed to do damage to its exterior. By then, Tanner had gotten close enough and quickly smashed the vials together just as Cinder took notice of him. Truth be told, the brunette had been exaggerating when he said that his Aura had run dry; he always made sure to have at least a sliver of Aura in reserve in case of emergency, but this might actually push it into the red.

The resulting explosion created a thick fog that acted as a smokescreen, cutting off Tanner's visibility drastically as well as Cinder's. Reflexively, he dove backwards to avoid an attack that may or may not have come from the woman, but nonetheless gave him the advantage of putting some distance between her when she did send out a couple slices of fire.

Crawling on his back, Tanner quickly found his way out of the fog and was helped up by Raiden just as he felt the last dregs of his strength slipping away. "C'mon, your guy's coming in low!" he heard the shadowcaster say as his arm was swung around the other teen's neck and they moved quickly.

Drained of energy and finally feeling all the injuries and fatigue over the past few hours catching up to him, Tanner allowed Raiden to take the lead for this one and instead took in the battlefield around them.

The Grimm were starting to pour in again – this time in greater numbers than before. However, the others with him didn't seem to acknowledge their presence, locked in battle with one of Cinder's cronies as the airship T was piloting lowered itself to the ground. Mercury seemed as fatigued as SK, and as such they matched each other in fighting capabilities and were locked in a stalemate, while Neo seemed to have an infinite amount of stamina as she continuously flipped and danced out of the way of Mason's tired, lumbering attacks.

He had to do something to give Mason an opening to retreat. "Mason, get back!" he warned while drawing Crossed Star. His words seemed to reach both of them, as they turned in his direction as he aimed the modified flintlock at Neo's feet and pulled the trigger.

Only to be met with two dry clicks.

"Dammit! Why does this always happen to me?"

"Ah, just let me do it." Raiden said as he untangled Tanner's arm from over his neck and took aim with his shotgun-sword in both hands. Unready for the sudden action, the brunette nearly smacked his face on the concrete as Raiden fired off a couple of shotgun gauges in Neo's direction – the first causing her to jump out of the way before she used her open parasol to block the second.

"Mason, get to the airship – we're pulling out!" Tanner shouted without waiting for a reply before staggering over towards the opening hatch of the airship.

SK beat him to the open hatch after hitting Mercury with a well-placed blast from his laser rifle, leaving the speedster to lie on the ground until his Aura recovered. Once at the hatch, the rogue offered Tanner a hand up, which he gladly accepted shortly before Mason came sprinting and dove into the open hatch.

"That's everyone! Go, now!" SK shouted over the sound of the engines into his Scroll.

"Wait! We can't leave without Raiden!" Tanner shouted back at him.

The shadowcaster was only a couple metres away, dispatching a couple Grimm that threatened to cut him off. With his free hand, Tanner reached out to help the teen into the airship. Raiden was halfway between accepting the hand when his expression suddenly widened and blood trickled out of a puncture wound in his chest.

Just inches from the airship, the teen fell to the ground as his legs gave out from under him, the shaft of a black arrow protruding from his back. Due to the close proximity of the airship to the ground, the force of the wind it kicked up had helped to blow away the fog that surrounded Cinder, giving her a clear line of sight on the airship.

"Shit!" SK cursed as Cinder began notching another arrow. "Cover's gone, T! We got to go – now!" the next arrow she fired was aimed straight at him, which he caught with the bracer around his left wrist.

This time, the airship began rising into the air and the doors started sliding shut. Tanner wasn't about to leave the shadowcaster to die, however, and unfurled his scarf just in time to flick it out like a rope that wrapped around one of Raiden's arms. He pulled as hard as he could while the airship rose into the air, glancing at SK then Mason in a silent request for help.

"Cover fire!" Mason shouted as he got to work firing back at Cinder, despite their distance giving him a massive disadvantage and making the concept of covering fire pointless. The Vacuo-born rogue held his judgemental gaze on first Tanner, then the unconscious body of the teen that dangled from the closing hatch. It only lasted a second longer as an arrow stabbed itself into the base of the hull, just barely hitting the lip of the hatch instead of its intended target.

"Argh, to hell with it!" SK cursed again as he smashed his fist on the hatch override before moving to help Tanner pull the boy up and allowing the hatch to close the rest of the way – the last thing they saw through its opening a fireball heading their way as parts of the airfield around the hangar suddenly burst into flames.

From the lack of falling to a fiery demise a couple of seconds after, Tanner could only assume that they had gotten away. After breathing a sigh of relief for himself, he turned his attention once more to the still-breathing body of Raiden Alexander, who was quickly losing blood.

"What do we do about him?" Tanner asked, his eyes never leaving the arrow still going through his chest.

"Let's eat him." Mason suggested, which was met with dead stares from the others currently in the ship's passenger hold. "What? Best to get them fresh."

"The airship should have a patch-kit somewhere, but it won't have anything to stop the bleeding fast enough." SK thought out loud, pulling the boy's jacket away to assess the damage the arrow did. "It's going through the right of his chest, which means that it hasn't punctured the heart. Also judging by the fact that he's still breathing, probably doesn't mean it punched his lungs either." There was a short pause as he contemplated what to do before he spoke again. "There should be enough painkiller in the first-aid to numb the pain so that he hardly feels a thing."

Tanner ran the logic through his head twice, wondering how it was going to save his life, before it dawned on the brunette that the rogue wasn't trying to save him. "You just want to let him bleed out and die?" the question was pointed and fuelled by anger.

"We can't save him." SK shot back. "The only thing for him now is to end his suffering."

"I refuse to believe that!"

"Tanner…"

"He saved my life down there – maybe even all our lives!"

"Vermillion!"

"I won't be a part of this!"

A moment of silence passed in the passenger compartment of the airship as no one said anything and no one made any moves – except for Mason, who was licking his lips at the prospect of fresh meat. It was eventually broken when the rogue rose to his feet and picked up his falchion. "You won't have to."

Pausing briefly to transform Scorched Divide back into its blade-form, SK uttered a quick prayer under his breath before raising it as high as the tight space of the airship would permit before bringing it down.


	29. Chapter 24

**A/N: So, yeah. Again, apologies about the gap between updates, but since RWBY Vol 5 dropped, I've been getting more and more into the swing of writing again, especially since I've (probably) figured out a good pattern to tackling life at the moment. But I also wanted to use this opportunity to state that this chapter is technically where the first arc of the MSTT story ends, and the next one (which will have a LOT more OC's, action scenes and drama) picks up.**

 **You'll understand when you get to the end of the chapter.**

Let Them Know

 **Present Day…**

"All things considered, we got really lucky that day." Tanner commented as the projected recording suddenly froze at the twitch of T's hand, giving the three sitting across from them a moment to comprehend what they had just seen.

Eventually, it was Qrow who spoke. "You four were so close." He said with a shake of his head. "So close to ending it all before it began, but you were all too selfish to see the bigger picture past your own motives."

"We're not saying we weren't, Qrow." SK spoke up, eyes flitting between him and the recording. "We missed our marks, sure. More death could have been avoided if we acted more decisively, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. There's more you need to see – more you need to understand that we undid."

"On top of that, I've run the battle scenario again at least fifty times to contemplate the alternatives." T followed up. "Logically speaking; between our depleted Auras and Cinder's unstable Fall Maiden powers, the chances of us actually killing her then and there were less than ten percent, even if we had acted more united."

"Do I look like I care what your calculations say?" the red-eyed man asked rhetorically. "People are dead because of what she did – what you helped her do. The whole world has gone blind and deaf, and we're scraping by to put the Kingdom back together. You four have _a lot_ to answer for."

"Please, Qrow," Tanner was on the verge of pleading as he laced his fingers together and put them on the table. His eyes fell on Glynda briefly before he added, "And ma'am," a cough brought his attention to Jay, who still sat between the two. "And, kid." The remark drew an annoyed glare from the blonde, but he didn't interrupt the brunette. "If you're going to judge us and decide what to do with us, at least give us the chance to tell the whole story."

A moment of tension passed between the people sitting opposite each other before Glynda spoke up. "We will hear you out and give you all of you a chance to justify yourselves, but we expect nothing but the truth of what happened, and that you do not keep any details that might give us a clue as to what Her endgame to all this is."

"As for what will happen to you," Jay began before pausing to glance at Qrow. "It really all depends on where this tale of yours takes us. To get us back on track here, what became of that Raiden fellow?"

"Yes, a man with the powers and capabilities that Raiden Alexander had would have made a powerful ally, albeit one lacking in discipline." The blonde witch added shortly after Jay had finished speaking.

All eyes fell on T as he said nothing for a few long seconds before sighing. "We don't know."

Naturally, Jay cocked an eyebrow in confusion at the statement. "What do you mean 'We don't know'? Didn't you kill him to mercifully end his suffering?"

This time, the eyes of the members of Team MSTT turned to SK, who swivelled between everyone staring at him before he responded. "Not exactly."

This earned him a leer from Qrow. "Ok, can you not? You can't just say something like that and expect us to accept him 'not exactly' dying. He's either dead or not, so which is it?"

"Alright, alright. Geez, I was getting to that." SK replied as he took off his glasses and put them on the table. "Here's what happened." Withdrawing his Scroll, he held it close to his face and squinted to see the screen as he tapped several commands on it, which caused the table around his glasses to glow as the holo-projection changed to a first-person view of SK as he stared down the injured shadowcaster in the back of the airship.

It played at the second he brought his blade down, but instead of going for the teen's neck, the blade cut through the shaft of the arrow sticking out of his back.

"Argh! Oum, dammit!" he exclaimed as he crouched down to grab the boy's shoulder with one hand before grabbing the tip of the arrow that protruded from his chest with the other. "Fine, there's another thing I can think to do that could save him, but…it's not going to be pretty."

"It rarely is." Tanner replied while moving to pick up the other half of the arrow and toss it aside. "What do you need?"

"Get the first-aid kit in the airship – get as much painkiller and sedative as you can find." He then turned to the redhead who watched on in curiosity. "Mars, I need you to help hold him steady. This needs to be precise."

"Hold him down – got it, just like Friday nights." Mason stated as SK got back up and picked him his Scorched Divide. Removing the canister from its chamber, he cracked it against the hull of the airship, allowing the red Dust in it to seep out and into his hand. When a small pile had accumulated in his palm, he threw the canister aside and started rubbing his hands together, which caused the Dust to start glowing.

He then picked up his falchion again and began running his hands along the length of the blade, causing the weapon to catch fire. "Hurry, Vermilion! If we wait too long, he'll bleed out!"

"I know, it's just-there's not a lot of painkiller here."

"It'll have to do." With that said, SK knelt beside the prone form of the boy and pulled out the rest of the arrow in one swift motion, drawing another sound of pain from the teen. "Mason, hold him down!" he ordered as the redhead moved up to straddle Raiden's legs while pinning his arms to the floor. Hesitantly, the rogue lifted up the black-haired teen's shirt, counted to three, then put the heated blade of his falchion to the wound in his chest left by the arrow.

A scream of pain filled the airship as Raiden thrashed about in pain, but SK did not relent and pressed the burning blade harder onto the boy's skin as his Aura flared dramatically.

"The hell are you doing?" Tanner shouted as he dove to his knees next to Raiden's straining body with the first-aid kit in his hands.

"Cauterizing the wound; it'll stop the bleeding entirely!" SK replied as he finally lifted his sword off the boy and forced him onto his front. "Painkiller!" he demanded with an outstretched hand. Tanner complied, putting a pair of full syringes in his palm, which he stabbed into Raiden's back before bringing the burning sword down on the wound in his back. "Hold him steady!"

"You'll kill him!" Tanner shouted in warning, but did nothing to stop the rogue as he pressed the flat of the blade down onto Raiden's squirming form with both hands, causing his Aura to flare as it strained to protect him from the flames as they licked over his skin.

This went on for a few more seconds as Raiden's screams of pain slowly became quieter and he slowly came down from his thrashing, eventually passing out as the rogue inspected both wounds. "It's over." He breathed out in relief, running a hand along the length of his blade to extinguish the fire as he toppled backwards on his rear. "The wounds won't bleed anymore – all that's left to do is fight through the pain."

Tanner's eyes met his as he looked back and forth between the rogue and the shadowcaster before making up his mind and moving to apply some light bandaging on the obsidian-haired teen. "Do you think he'll live?"

"Only if he wants to badly enough." He watched on for a couple more seconds as Raiden's unconscious form took in a deep, unsteady breath of air while his body subconsciously found a comfortable position to rest in. After holding his breath for a couple of seconds, he let it out in a more steady stream as the painkillers kicked in and he relaxed against the floor of the airship. "Cauterising drains a person's Aura to almost nothing, but it sure as hell heals them faster than their sliver of Aura after a battle."

"Not sure if I'd consider leaving a huge second-degree burn on a person 'healing'." Tanner snorted as he helped the unconscious shadowcaster into a comfortable sitting position in the airship.

"Despite how much it sounds like it hurts and how much it actually hurts, it gives the body a chance to heal any internal damage, assuming it's not too extensive. The worst thing you'll get from it is some scarred skin." As his eyes wandered for something to focus on, the rogue's gaze landed on Raiden's discarded weapon. "Better hold on to this for safe-keeping, who knows how he's gonna react when he wake up." He thought out loud while moving over to grab the longsword, dropping it in his lap before sitting back down.

* * *

 **11 minutes later…**

It became Tanner's unspoken duty to watch over Raiden's unconscious body as they made their way back to T's Compound.

 _I did bring him on board, guess it's only fair._

No one else spoke a word on the way back. Despite how much he wanted to, Tanner held himself back from going up to the cockpit and facing T head-on, knowing that the hacker would have to come back through the passenger compartment on his way out eventually.

The entire time after they had stabilised the shadowcaster, Tanner had been going over the battles in his mind; thinking about the way that his enemies had acted and what had been said. More than anything, he thought about Cinder's powers to control the Grimm that had attacked him. After everything he had seen in his time in the mafia, he had never seen a Semblance like that at work – and it scared him.

 _What other powers does she have that we don't know about?_

The only indication to Tanner that they had finally landed back at the Compound was the sound of the airship's engines cycling down to a halt. Shortly after, the hatches slid open automatically and Mason was the first one out. "Freedom!" he shouted on his way out.

SK and Tanner remained where they were, both using the opportunity to catch their breaths and wait for T to show himself.

Eventually, the sound of footsteps announced T's entry into the passenger compartment of the airship, where he stopped to first address SK and Tanner. "Keep him restrained and out cold for now – I don't want him to see the compound until he says he's willing to join us."

Tanner was the first to rise as T disembarked the airship. "So now we're recruiting him?"

In the distance, the hacker's shepherd dog came running up to him with something in its mouth, stopping just in front of T as the cyborg kneeled to pet it and remove the object in its mouth. "Only if he wants to."

T returned to the airship a second after dismissing the brown dog, holding what was clearly a medical syringe in his hand as he moved over to Raiden and injected the fluid in it into his neck. "How long will it last?" SK asked next.

"An hour – maybe two." The hacker's response was curt as he turned away once the task was done and began walking back towards the house on the cliff.

This time, Tanner wasn't about to let him just walk away. "T, stop!" at his words, the hacker stopped walking, but did not turn to face the swordsman. "If it weren't for Esinti and Raiden back there, we'd both be six-feet under right now."

T slowly turned around to face the brunette. "And I'm glad for their help, which is why I am giving Raiden a choice and sparing his life."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make and you know it," Tanner countered without hesitation. "You know things about Cinder and the others that you're holding back from us. You knew about Raiden the moment you saw him, yet withheld information about his style and powers, and I'm willing to bet you know about the extent of Cinder's influence in Mistral."

"I didn't know about her power over the Grimm." T said in his defence.

"That doesn't change the fact that you had plans you weren't going to fill us in on." Tanner spat back. "T, I want to help you take Cinder down, especially after everything I've seen, but I can't do that if you don't trust us and I can't trust you – so either you start telling us what your bigger game is, or I'm out."

"The same goes double for me." SK added. "You might be my one shot at actually killing Cinder, but I won't take it if it means I'm going to get killed along the way."

There was a brief moment when the look in T's eyes hardened and Tanner swore he saw the man's cybernetic arm tighten up, as if it were getting ready to pummel rock into powder. The moment passed, however, and T let out a resigned sigh. "Cinder rules through fear and ignorance of her master plan. She has amassed a small army all across Mistral because of it, with reach that extends to nearly every Kingdom in the world." T explained. "I thought…to do the same would be to use her tactics against her, and destroy her in the process."

It took a moment to understand where the hacker was coming from, but when he did, Tanner's response was resolute. "Do you want to be Cinder?"

T's attention snapped to the swordsman. "What?"

Taking a moment to think over his words, Tanner's gaze was hard when he spoke again. " _Cinder's_ style is to rule with fear, so if you want to be like Cinder then by all means, think just like her. But if you want to be better than Cinder, you can't go around copying her strategy."

The words seemed to get the hacker thinking as he clenched and unclenched his fists several times, then let out a grunt of annoyance as he turned to stare at the eastern sky, which was slowly getting brighter with the rising sun. "I _will_ tell you three what I know about Cinder and the others, and what I plan to do to put a stop to her. I…was wrong to think that I could control you three the same way Cinder does her goons, and I won't be her." His tone was soft, but the words carried their meaning as he began walking back towards the airship. "I've transferred Gamma access codes to your Scrolls, which will give you limited access to the terminals, stations and supply boxes in the Compound."

"…Why can't you do it yourself?" SK asked.

"I'm going back for the airship we left in Kuroyuri, then I'm going to take Raiden somewhere we can…talk." He explained while climbing into the airship's cockpit room to begin pre-flight adjustments.

Somewhat annoyed at the fact that T was still dodging things, Tanner made his way into the cockpit and stared at the hacker as he performed the checks. "What happened to telling us what you know about Cinder?"

T's hands suddenly froze when Tanner spoke, and he took a moment before responding. "I will tell you what I know. I just…need a while to figure out what to say."

"Say the truth," Tanner countered. "-can't go wrong there."

Turning in his chair, the hacker faced the brunette with a new resolve. "You can ask Overwatch questions if you'd like, but she won't be able to answer all of them. The more…sensitive ones I'll tell you myself."

Holding his gaze for a second longer, the brunette scoffed in annoyance before exiting the airship. "C'mon," he said to SK. "-let's go see what we can find in T's house."

* * *

 **14 Minutes Later…**

"Approaching last-known location of the Bullhead." Overwatch's soothing voice spoke in the cockpit of the airship as T brought it into a slow descent. After making sure that the airship was still in flying order and refuelled, he loaded up the parts necessary to make repairs on the damaged Bullhead and refuel it. For the return journey, he was entrusting Overwatch's autopilot software to be able to return it to the Compound and make a safe landing while he took the airship they had arrived on, as it was the less modified of the two and would not give the synthetic intelligence the controls she needed.

"Bring us down – as close as you can to it." He commanded as the ruined village finally came into view in the mid-morning sunlight. It felt like such much longer than a day since they'd last been here, but everything was still as it had been the day before, including the damaged Bullhead that T had to land here before it crashed.

It looked to be in the condition that they left it, but just to be sure T brought spare tools and parts to perform any necessary repairs. From an initial scan of the surroundings, it also seemed like the Grimm population in the area was minimal, with nothing but a couple Beowulves that would keep to themselves if T kept his distance.

"Captain, if I may speak freely..." Overwatch asked politely as the hacker began plotting a course to circle around the landing site to slow the airship's approach.

"…You may." He said after switching over control to her.

The synthetic stayed silent for a second before speaking. "The others…The Vendetta Initiative…though I can understand your hesitance to trust them, I think it would be wise to put more trust in them. So far, your strategy to only tell them what is necessary has not produced the results you have expected, nor the calculated optimal results."

"You are suggesting I change my approach to get a more efficient outcome of working with them." T reiterated, while also thinking on the words themselves.

"Going over the past sixty hours, we both know that you can't continue with your current courses of action. I've already predicted a ninety-four percent probability that Mr. Esinti will continue to act out of turn if you do not uphold your agreement to inform them of the next phase of operations, and that probability is even higher for Mr. Vermillion."

"I've already considered what might happen if I remain silent about this for much longer." T stated as he absentmindedly tilted his head back to look at the source of Overwatch's voice. "I've already conceded to telling them what the endgame with Cinder is."

"What about the situation with Miss Neopolitan, then?" Overwatch's tone was touched with concern and curiosity. "I…can't imagine they will react well when they find out that you want her alive."

"That is why neither of us will tell them about my plans for Neo." The words came out more like an order than he intended them to be. He knew he didn't have to be indirect with Overwatch or doubt her loyalty, but sometimes old habits do die hard.

"Sir?"

"If they found out that I don't intend to kill Neo, it could jeopardise everything I've planned thus far. Tanner already suspects something as it is, but I will deal with the consequences when the time comes. I need you to promise me that you won't breathe a word of it to _any_ of them." T also knew that he didn't have to ask the synthetic intelligence to make promises, as she didn't have choice but to comply. Still, she was the last person he could really trust – someone who would not betray him under any circumstance. "Please."

A moment of silence passed before the bodiless voice spoke again. "Of course, Captain. I do hope you know what you are doing."

"I hope so too." T muttered to himself before addressing Overwatch again. "How are they?"

"They seem…restless, sir. Mr Esinti has already asked me several questions about our inventory and about my capabilities, though he shows no interest in questioning what your plans are with regard to Cinder Fall." Overwatch explained in a neutral tone.

"They probably know that they're not going to get much out of interrogating you." T stated as the airship finally touched the ground, landing softly as T unbuckled the safety belts in the pilot's seat.

"I will alert you if they attempt to tamper with my systems, though I cannot promise that I won't take action beforehand to prevent damage." Overwatch said, now through T's earpiece as he exited the cockpit and moved to grab the toolkit he brought on-board from the back of the airship.

"Don't worry, I won't reprimand you for doing so." He said while casting a glance to Raiden, who still laid slump and unconscious in the back of the airship.

T briefly considered giving him another dose of the tranquilizer he had administered earlier, but for some reason thought against it and exited the airship to start on the path towards his modified Bullhead.

 _I don't want him out for much longer, just another half-hour should work._ It was the logic he went with as he pulled out his Scroll and hit the master unlock to disarm the Bullhead, which had gone into lockdown after the night of inactivity.

The process of checking over the Bullhead's systems and external integrity took a total of twelve minutes – made quicker with Overwatch's aid and scans. Though it was relatively early in the morning, the mid-Spring sun was already in the sky and shining down on the ruined Mistrali village. T was in the process in of recalibrating the airship's flight instruments when Overwatch's voice broke the silence.

"Captain, Raiden Alexander is awake and has broken free from his restraints!" the panic in her voice was clear and set the hacker on edge immediately.

"What?" _It can't be – he should still be out for another half-hour!_ Stopping what he was doing immediately, T broke into a sprint out the Bullhead and made a beeline straight to the airship a few metres away, determined to intercept the shadowcaster before he could get away.

"He's attempting to make a break for the forest, keep to your current trajectory and you should-" T spotted the teen as he stumbled over some loose floor tiles, barely catching himself by throwing his hands out in front of him to stop his fall. He had his weapon stuck to his back, but T also noticed that he looked paler and weaker than normal.

 _He won't get far._ "I see him." T's running speed picked up as he closed in on the teen, however, Raiden heard his approach and began shimmering with solid wisps of shadows. His sprint instantly tripled in speed and T very quickly had no hope of catching up to the shadowcaster as he disappeared into the treelines.

"He's gone!" Overwatch said with a tone of disbelief. "That was strange – his Aura suddenly spiked right before he sped away, but I can't figure out why?"

"Can you track his Scroll?"

"I can, but there's a problem; he left his Scroll in the airship." Overwatch explained while creating a top-down view of the village for T, with a marker on where Raiden's Scroll was responding from its fixed position. "He likely ditched it _because_ he knew we could track him."

Letting out a sigh, T slowed to a halt as he stared at the treeline where Raiden had vanished into. Either way, the shadowcaster seemed to be making a point that he did not want to be found – or followed.

T understood that to pursue the matter further would be more effort than it was worth, and so conceded to pick up what he could and move forward with the plan. "Let's finish with repairs and get home."

* * *

 **Present Day…**

"Since then, I've never been able to track down Raiden – and as of last week, the chances of finding him went from slim to hairline." T finished as Jay lifted his hand to speak.

"You said that he left his Scroll behind so that you wouldn't be able to track him. Was there anything on his Scroll of value?" the blonde asked.

"Just the usual stuff that you'd find on a Scroll; some contacts, music albums, personal files, selfies," Tanner listed off. "-And a message."

Qrow quirked an eyebrow at that. "A message?"

"He recorded it shortly before leaving his Scroll to get away. I'll admit, I'm somewhat impressed that he was able to do it while under Overwatch's surveillance." T thought out loud while absentmindedly tapping a few symbols on his Scroll.

A second later, the window for an audio recording was projected on the blank screen in the interrogation room. It began playing immediately, and the voice that spoke was hushed and breathless. "…I suppose I should thank you guys if I ever see you again…" a sigh ended the sentence before Raiden continued speaking a second later. "Don't feel like thanking you right now for the permanent burns, but I think I'll eventually come around to the fact that you _did_ pull me out of a battlefield and stopped me from bleeding out. But, I know what's going to happen next; you're going to ask me to join your posse to help you take down Cinder, and you won't take it well when I say no." There was a pause as Raiden let out a grunt of discomfort, followed by the sound of shifting before he continued. "Believe me, I want to bring that bitch down as much as the next guy, but I'm done working with and for people for a good while. Here on out, I'll be the one calling the shots. I can see you guys have something going for you though, so I won't get in the way of it. Still…I owe you guys for saving my ass, so if you ever run into me again…I guess I can let you cash in a favour. Till then, I'll be in the shadows…no, no, I've got a better one – Till then, I'll be watching from the shadows…eh, fuck it. Works for me." The recording stopped there, and it was Glynda who spoke next.

"Do you think he will still hold to his word?" though no one really knew the answer, SK could hazard a guess at what the teen would say if they ever ran into him again.

"Likely, though if he's kept up with the news, he doesn't have much of a choice but to help us." The rogue said with a rare confidence in his own intuition.

A steady beeping suddenly filled the air in the room they were in as Qrow withdrew his Scroll from his pocket and held it to his ear. "This is Qrow." A few seconds of silence passed. "You sure?" another few seconds of silence. "Can't the Commander handle it, I'm in the middle of a-" A pause, then a sigh. "Alright, I'll be there." With that, he closed his Scroll and glanced at the four sitting across from him. "I've gotta step out for a while to take care of something." Though he held his gaze on T, his words were directed at Jay and Glynda. "You want me to send down someone else in my place, y'know, to keep the numbers even?"

"I think we'll manage." Jay said after considering the situation for a moment. "Vale still needs as many of us on the ground as possible – if this drags on, we can always call in others to fill in for us once things die down."

The black-haired man shrugged his shoulders. "Fair enough."

He was almost at the door when Mason spoke up again. "Y'think you could bring us refreshments on your way back? However, I only drink the finest energy drinks and eat only the finest corn chips you got."

"I don't think you've got any place to talk about standards after that one time you chose to eat mud from a river over some baked potatoes." Tanner quipped as Qrow ignored the back-and-forth chatter and made his way to the elevator.

"You know I hate potatoes!"

"No you don't! I saw you eat a barrel full of raw potatoes once – straight from the ground!"

"That was different!"

"How is that different?"

"…This is going to be a long interrogation."

* * *

 **Two Days After the battle with Cinder…**

It had proven more challenging than she thought it would be, but Cinder had finally let her anger die down to a single flame. It still showed on her features, but compared to the roaring inferno that had burned just two days ago, it did not physically manifest into anything immediately…destructive.

Salem had warned her that losing control of her emotions while she only had a part of the Fall Maiden's powers could result in outbursts of power that she had no hope of controlling, but the ash-haired woman had not understood the danger that it posed until two days ago, when the earth around her burnt and charred and no one could get within a metre of her without a flame lashing out of nowhere at them.

At random times as well, a surge of power would overcome her body and force her to unleash it in a destructive fireball, which left her severely drained immediately after.

Now, two days after she let the hacker slip through her fingers a second time, she had regained her composure and had summoned her other subordinates to give them her ultimatum.

Unfortunately, it seemed that she wasn't the only one with anger to vent.

Though she was on the verge of snapping, Cinder kept her composure as Adam threw yet another piece of furniture across the room of one of her safe houses in Mistral.

"If you would control yourself for just one minute I would have already explained my plan for dealing with these gnats." Cinder hissed through gritted teeth.

Her tone immediately caught the attention of Adam's fury and he turned on her again. "Do you even grasp the concept of how many brothers and sisters of the White Fang were lost because of your carelessness?" he countered with an accusatory finger pointed at her. "And that's not even considering all the resources and assets that were lost at that airbase!"

"Do not lecture me about _my_ losses and _my_ wasted assets, Taurus."She hissed back, knowing that the weapons, Dust and resources lost two days ago belonged to her – not Adam or his White Fang cell. "And do not pretend like I don't understand the threat they pose to all of us!"

"If you think they're such a threat, then why are we still standing here arguing about this?" Adam countered, pacing restlessly back and forth as his hands itched to kill something.

"I was getting to that before you interrupted me." Cinder had to grit her teeth together to prevent the words from coming out as a shout. Having forgotten her breathing a couple of seconds ago, sparks of embers were already beginning to fall from her hands.

"Forget it!" Adam yelled before turning around and to the door of the safe house. "Do whatever you want, I'll take care of them myself." His words trailed behind him as he opened the door and slammed it hard, causing some of the loose furniture in the apartment to shake for a second.

Roman winched at the sound and waited a couple of seconds before speaking. "You're not going after him?"

Exhausted from the verbal hostility with the Faunus, Cinder exhaled loudly before addressing Roman. "I was going to send him and his best after them anyway."

"Fair enough." The ginger stated with a shrug. "No need to get in the way of the bull while all he's seeing is red, anyways." He turned to glance out one of the dirty windows for a few seconds before speaking again. "I'm guessing you were gonna ask me to do the same?"

"Not just yet." Cinder corrected, her tone now much more calm. "First, I would like you to get into contact with as many associates as you can – dangerous associates."

When Torchwick turned to look at Cinder, the curiosity on his face was plain for everyone to see. "…Interesting. What for?"

"I'm putting a bounty on their heads, and I want you to get the word out." The half-Maiden declared "Ten million Lien."

Roman clearly wasn't expecting such a high figure, which is why Cinder found it the slightest bit amusing when his jaw dropped open. "Ten million Lien!" he half-shouted in sheer shock. "Do we even have that kind of money after the stunts they've pulled?"

"Don't you worry about the money, I have it planned out." Cinder stated with a confident smirk. "We'll charge two and a half million per head – dead or alive. I also have contacts that might be able to…help out with the bounty, so all I need is for you to get the word out." Her eyes and tone turned serious when she next spoke. "I want news of this bounty to reach across Remnant – I want mercenaries and freelancers from as far as Atlas coming here just to claim it, the more the better."

"And if I happen to ice one of them, hmm?" the ginger asked with a confident smirk of his own. "Am I entitled to cash in on this reward you're so generously putting out for everyone to see?"

"Well, I would hope so." Cinder said in a sultry tone while leaning closer to Torchwick to speak in a softer voice. "What other incentive would you have to go after them?"

Gasping, the crime lord flinched back as if the ash-haired woman had just struck him. "Cinder Fall, I am hurt." He said sarcastically. "What more would I want than your sincerest gratitude for my help? You assume the worst of me."

With an annoyed eye-roll, Cinder dismissed Roman with the wave of her hand. "Just get it done and get it done soon."

"Yes, ma'am." He replied in a half-hearted tone as he turned to exit out the door, stopping just as his hand landed on the doorknob. "And what about you? You gonna brood and scheme in a corner while we do all the work?"

In response, Cinder audibly smirked before speaking. "I'm going to see some old friends and call in a few favours. And I won't take no for an answer."


	30. Chapter 25

New Girl in Town

 **A/N: It's really been longer than I had hoped for to get this chapter out, but hopefully I can get a ball rolling for this with the introduction of more characters. In case you didn't catch on last time, this is a new story arc for MSTT that takes place a few weeks after the events of the last chapter.**

 **This chapter was originally supposed to have a lot more in it than what I got out, but I realised by the 4K+ word milestone that I didn't want this chapter to be too long either. As such, the next few chapters have already been planned and flushed out, so all that's left is for me to get to writing them.**

 **I really didn't feel like sacrificing detail and snappy dialogue for story progression this time, so I hope ya'll still enjoy this one.**

* * *

 **Two months before Volume 1…**

After finally catching sight of the familiar wooden cabin on the plateau, Fida Blush let out a sigh of relief as she shifted the weight of the rucksacks on her back. Her crimson-coloured steel boots crushed the patches of green Mistral grass that grew on the ridge as she followed the familiar path of padded dirt, stones and grass to the house. The indigo-purple travel shoal she wore covered her grey blouse and black battle-skirt, which was covered by bits of indigo and crimson armour pieces.

Of her attire, the bronze bracelets on either of her wrists were what stood out the most, which blinked with an amber light ever few seconds. The light of the late-morning sun catches her in one of her navy-blue eyes as she used her free hand to adjust her dark-blue and pink braid, tossing it over her left shoulder as her brown cat ears twitched freely.

As she neared the house, Fida was met by an orange and white cat that ran towards her from the front porch of the cabin, meowing as it rubbed its side against her leg. The simple action caused Fida to sigh, breathing out some of the exhaustion of having walked up the narrow path to get to the plateau as she lowered one of the rucksacks so that she could run both her hands through the cat's fur.

"Hey there, Sunset." She said with a gentle smile while cupping the feline's face with both her hands. "Did you make sure Rena kept out of trouble?" the cat mewled in reply as she chuckled to herself while standing back up. "Yeah, I got the cat food you like – don't worry."

Stepping up onto the front porch of the house, Fida tried the doorknob to find it was unlocked and pushed her way in, dropping her bags by the foot of the table in the living room. "Babe, is that you?" a voice called out from further back in the house.

"No, it's Professor Lionheart, from Haven." She called back in a joking tone as a tanned woman with a black bob haircut walked out from around the corner carrying a few carving tools in one of her hand.

Her face broke out into a huge smile she walked up to Fida and gave her a big hug. "Hey, Fida."

"Hey, Cerena." She replied before placing a kiss on the corner of her mouth. "Didn't I tell you to lock the door while I was out?"

"I'd lock it more often if you switched to a more modern lock." Cerena replied with a pout. "Y'know, one where I didn't have to put the key in every time I wanted to step out?"

"What if a Grimm or a bandit came into the house while you weren't looking?" Fida asked before looking at the cat. "Sunset can't fight off every stray crook that comes this way."

"You make it sound like I'm helpless." Cerena stated while throwing a light punch at the blue-haired woman's shoulder. "I know how to fight for myself. Besides, someone has to tend to the garden while you're not here."

"Alright, alright! I know how much you love that garden." Fida conceded while taking off her travel shoal. "I'll get a new doorknob the next time I'm in town." She said while laughing. "Do you wanna help me prepare lunch?"

"Sure." She said before placing the carving tools down on the table. Her eyes turned to the cat, who had his front paws placed on the windowsill as he looked through the glass. "C'mon, Sunset. We need someone to eat anything we drop. Don't worry, it's fish this time." Sunset didn't move from his spot, instead letting out a loud meow before continuing to stare out the window. "What're you doing you silly cat?" Cerena walked over to pick up the cat and pet its head, but as she glanced out the open window for just a second, the black-haired girl froze where she stood.

When her girlfriend didn't follow her to the kitchen, Fida instead felt worry creep up her neck. "Cerena, what's wrong?"

"Fida," she breathed out. "Were you expecting guests?"

Fida's hands instantly went to her bracelets, but lingered on the buttons along it as she walked up beside the midnight-haired girl. "No, what do you mean gue-" her voice caught in her throat as she looked out the window to see a familiar – and entirely unwelcomed – woman in red, flanked on either side by two unfamiliar people. "Oh no."

At the worry in her tone, Cerena turned her eyes to her girlfriend as her hand found Fida's. "Do you know them?" her voice was calm, understanding the nature of the situation.

"Only her." Fida muttered in reply as she turned Cerena to look at her. "Cerena, I need you to take Sunset and go to the back of the house – like we talked about. Get to the cellar if you can."

"But-"

"Rena, please. I can handle this, but if she sees you, she might try to use you to get her way." The Faunus argued, the determination in her eyes nearly enough to put away the worry in Cerena's.

Swallowing hard, Cerena nodded quickly before reaching up to kiss Fida on the lips. "Ok. Be careful." She stated as she hefted the cat in her arms and began walking to the back of the house.

The indigo-haired girl had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself before walking over to the front door of the house and activating her bracelets, causing the devices to glow with a steady amber light. Taking in one last deep breath, Fida put her hand on the doorknob and stepped out of her cabin.

It seemed Cinder had not moved from her spot as she held eye-contact with the ash-haired woman while closing the door behind her with her foot and taking a few steps down the porch.

"So, this is what's become of you; the once infamous Fida Blush." Cinder stated with a smug grin.

Fida had to swallow a lump in her throat before responding with as much authority as she could muster. "Cinder Fall; I believe the last time we parted I said I didn't want to ever see you or your…" she droned on while gesturing to the two teens standing at her side. "Who are these two?"

The boy with gunmetal-grey hair looked like he was about to speak up when Cinder held a hand out in front of him and spoke for him. "These are my newest students; Emerald and Mercury."

"I didn't know you taught classes now." Fida scoffed with a bitter half-laugh.

"I don't." there was a bit of bite to Cinder's tone, but it disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. "It's more like…an apprenticeship, but enough about them." The edges of her mouth curled up in a sinister-looking smile. "I have to say, it was a little harder to find you than I thought it would be."

"That's kind of the point." Fida replied while flapping her arms at her side. "I told you I was going to drop off the radar, go somewhere quiet. I'm happy here, not to mention retired."

"I see." Cinder said absentmindedly. "Are you living alone?"

The words sent a shiver of fear up the woman's spine, but Fida did her best not to show it. "It's just me and the cat, yeah."

"Cat, huh?" Cinder said while subtly glancing up at her Faunus ears. "I see. I guess it only seems appropriate given your…background."

The ears atop her head twitched once in irritation at the comment, which made her more anxious to get to the point of it. "Alright, Fall. Why are you really here?"

The ash-haired woman made an innocent pout for a few seconds before it disappeared in place of a more serious expression. "Fine. I've got an issue I need you to take care of, and I'm willing to pay you handsomely if you can take care of it quickly – like you used to do."

And with that, Fida's suspicion as to why this dangerous woman would come looking for her were confirmed. "I just said I'm retired." She replied forcefully. "That means I'm not working – or up for hire. End of story!"

"I understand, Blush, but if you would just-"

"Do you think I just quit my line of work for fun or something?" Fida snapped back when Cinder didn't seem to be getting the message. "People like me don't just _quit_ , I had to go through months of preparation to make sure that I didn't have any more string attaches. I dropped out of the manhunt business because I didn't want to do it anymore, and that's that."

Cinder's expression seemed to tighten in a half-scowl. "This is your last chance, Fida, come with me quietly or I'll make you come with us."

"I said 'no', now get off my property!" she shouted while raising her open right arm as a threat.

"Fida." Cinder said while taking a step forward, which caused the woman before her to twist her arm to the side while taking a single step backwards. Sensing her motives, Cinder continued to speak without moving. "You are the best tracker _and_ battle analysist that I can afford to go to, so if you think you're just going to walk away from this after I've asked nicely, you're wrong!"

Fida seemed visibly shaken by Cinder's words, but stood defiantly all the same. "Try me, bitch."

Cinder's eyes turned cold when she next spoke. "So be it." Her head turned to Mercury when she gave her next set of instructions. "Bring her down – don't kill."

At her word, the boy immediately lunged into action, striking out with a kick aimed at Fida's chest. Dashing out of the way, she immediately held out both her hands at her sides with her palms open, confusing Mercury. "What're you doing?"

"Give it a second." She warned while maintaining her posture. After a second, the sound of things being knocked over and smashing could be heard from within the wooden cabin behind them as Fida smirked. "Also, you might want to get back a couple feet." As she said this, the cabin's wooden door suddenly burst open as it was pushed aside by two flying swords, spinning through the air while still covered in their cloth scabbards.

As they span through the air towards Fida, the cloth wrapped around each blade unfurled, falling to the ground and revealing the swords to be a pair of bronze-coloured khopesh-like weapons. The hilts of the weapon seemed to be made of leather – and seemed rather ordinary, while the blades themselves were covered in markings and patterns that looked like they could come apart.

The sword closest to Fida immediately spun in a wide arc towards Mercury's side when she swung her hand as if to direct the sword. Though caught off-guard by the attack, Mercury was able to block it by raising his boot to intercept the blade with the sole of his shoe.

The speedster had less success with the second blade, however, as it sailed by Fida's side directly at him when she pointed her other hand in his direction. Bending backwards just in time, the blade only barely knicked his shoulder as Mercury did a backflip to rebalance himself.

Fida wasn't done yet, as she brought both of her arms together and swung them to her right, causing the swords under her control to swing right side-by-side. Together, she brought them for a backwards wind-up before driving them up an overhead arc and bringing both blades down on the speedster.

Though the attack came quite quickly, Mercury was able to react appropriately to dodge out of the way just as the blades slammed into the ground, creating a crater in the ground as they did. She threw a glare at the surprised boy before flipping him off with both hands, which caused the blades lodged in the ground to shake free before lurching to the left at Emerald, who had been trying to flank around Fida unseen.

Crossing her arms over each other, Fida caused the dual blades to spin parallel to the ground as they flew towards the mint-haired girl, who had to roll out of the way to avoid them as they span in an arc back to Fida, who caught them in her outstretched hands.

At this point, Cinder had gotten into a flanking position around Fida, though the half-Maiden had yet to draw a weapon. Between the three of them, the former-bounty hunter's eyes continuously flitted between them as she pointed each of her blades at them in challenge. Eventually, it was Emerald who made the first move, firing from her dual long-pistols.

Fida was able to block the oncoming salvo of bullets with relative ease, flourishing her blades to catch the bullets before throwing one of her khopesh like a throwing dagger at the girl. Emerald initially flinched out of the way of the weapon, but it was unnecessary as the blade seemed to miss the trickster by a wide margin.

Before Emerald could hold the smirk on her face for more than two seconds, however, Fida pulled the arm that threw the sword back, causing the weapon to return to her like a boomerang. Emerald did not have enough time to dodge out of the way as she turned around to stare at the incoming projectile and took the hit straight to her chest, knocking the mint-haired girl to the ground as her Aura caught the brunt of the hit.

Immediately after the sword flew back into her hand, Fida had to spin on her heels to intercept Mercury, who had launched himself at her while she was busy with Emerald. Raising her dual Khopesh up, she was barely able to block the high-jump kick that Mercury threw at her by putting the bronze blades of her weapon between her and the boy's shoes.

Fida pushed back to put some distance between her and the speedster, causing him to fly a few feet backwards through the air before landing in a crouch. The woman was about to move in and continue her attacks when a feeling of danger compelled her to twist to one side, narrowly avoiding an arrow that Cinder had fired at her.

The shot was immediately followed up by three others, however, and Fida had no room for rest as she raised her blades in defence, deflecting each arrow that came her way as Cinder slowly closed the distance between them.

"Impressive." She stated immediately after lowering her bow. "You still fight as well as you did the last time I saw you."

"I've had to keep in shape." She quipped back while turning around at the sound of approaching footsteps. With a dodge-roll to the left, she was able to avoid another one of Mercury's attacks before throwing out a high kick that knocked him on his back.

"Oh, is that so? Protecting something, are we?" Cinder asked while disconnecting the two ends of her bow into their dual blades-form. "Or is it someone?"

Fida's eyes widened in shock at the knowing smirk on Cinder's face, and the way her tone made it sound like she knew exactly what she was referring to. With a cry of anger, she immediately charged the half-Maiden with both blades raised to kill.

The two women met each other again and again, throwing both blades into every attack they delivered to give each hit more power. Eventually, Fida was able to lock the curved portions of her dual khopesh around one of Cinder's swords, disarming her of it by twisting her wrists.

Before she could deal the next blow, however, a bullet sailed by her, missing her neck by an inch as she backpedalled out of the way of the next salvo of shots from Emerald. Taking only a couple seconds to estimate her trajectory, Fida threw one of her swords at the girl and boy who were advancing on her, guiding it through an arc that kept them at a distance as the blade came back around in a full circle for another pass.

Distracted by the two, Fida narrowly blocked the lunge attack Cinder threw at her after having retrieved her other sword. Going up against Cinder with only one sword proved more of a challenge than Fida thought it would be, but she managed while controlling the other blade to keep her apprentices distracted.

"You're afraid." Cinder hissed out once she had Fida's khopesh locked between her blades.

"Yeah, that happens when three serial killers show up at your house and try to take you out of retirement!" Fida hissed back before breaking the hold the half-Maiden had on her by grabbing one of Cinder's arms and pushing her away.

"No, you're not afraid – not for yourself at least." Cinder continued while holding her swords at her sides in a relaxed stance. "You're afraid for Her." She said with a smirk while pointing back to the wooden cabin with one of her swords.

When Fida turned to face the cabin, her blood instantly turned to ice as she saw Cerena being held at blade-point by a shorter, more menacing girl with multi-coloured hair. The girl had the tan woman up against the wall of the house with her rapier poised to thrust right into her heart.

"It's a shame, really, that someone so young and pretty has to die for your sake." Cinder continued to taunt as Fida turned her wide, enraged eyes back to her.

With a shout of anger, Fida struck her empty hand out to her side to call the khopesh spinning through the air back to her. "Let her go, right now!" she demanded.

"That's not how this works." Cinder stated as her expression turned hard and cold. "I _need_ you to find someone for me; if you can do that, then I'll let her go, and you two can return to your lives as if none of this ever happened. Otherwise…" glancing over at the heterochromatic girl with the rapier, Cinder gave a subtle signal for her to put some more pressure on the rapier, causing the end of it to poke harder against Cerena's chest.

"Leave her out of this!" she shouted while taking a few steps closer to Cinder. "This is between you and me."

"You're the one who brought her into this." Cinder countered. "You've always known something like this would've happened, yet you took the risk anyway – like you always do." The smirk curling up half of her mouth was knowing when she next spoke. "Go ahead; call my bluff."

The grip Fida had on the handles of her swords was enough to crack bones as she felt her face twitch in frustration. "Fida," she immediately turned a glare to the voice that spoke, though it immediately fell away when she saw that it was actually Cerena that had spoken. "-don't do it. Whatever they want you to do, don't do it!"

Her throat was suddenly filled with cotton that she had to swallow down before trying to speak again. "I…"

"I'll give you another five seconds to think over your answer." Cinder said while stabbing one of her swords into the ground to raise her free hand.

"Wait! Wait." Fida exclaimed desperately, causing Cinder to freeze. Looking at her girlfriend briefly with a sad expression, Fida mouthed the words, "I'm sorry." Before turning back to the ash-haired woman. "I'll do whatever you want – just let her go."

Cinder dropped her smug grin in favour of a victorious smile – which, all things considered, wasn't very different. "Good choice." She remarked before turning to the multi-coloured girl. "Take her with us."

At her command, the shorter girl uses the firm hold she has on Cerena to turn her around and push her forward with one of her hands behind her back. Immediately after, Fida threw an accusatory glare at Cinder. "You said-"

"I said I would let her go." Cinder reaffirmed. "After you caught my guy." At this point, Mercury had moved to help Neo escort the black-haired girl. "You have my word; she will be cared for and treated well until you find your target."

"What's this about, Fall; refusing your _generous_ offer, or to make sure I don't leave with the job half-done?" Fida asked, desperation clearly in her tone as her mind scrambled for any sound reasoning that might get the other girl out of this mess.

"You are perceptive, Fida." Cinder complimented while walking up to her and placing a cold, firm hand on the small of her back in order to force Fida to start walking back down the plateau. "Always have been."

"You have my word that I'll follow through with what you want, there's no need to keep her captive – please." She tried not to make it sound like she was begging, but it was especially hard when Cerena turned around and made eye-contact with her, silently trying to reassure the indigo-haired girl that everything was alright as she was pushed along.

"Your word means nothing to me anymore." Cinder stated firmly. "The old Fida Blush wouldn't have given herself up for anything, or acted so desperate for an 'out'. Love has made you soft." The ash-haired woman threw a smirk at her as she continued gently pushing her along the familiar path back to town. "But I'm sure I can fix that. Now, there's some people I want you to meet…"

* * *

 **Two Hours Ago…**

"Captain, are you sure about this?" Overwatch's omnipresent voice echoed through the database vault below T's compound. "I've calculated that, in the event these upgrades malfunction, it could affect my performance in the field by about twenty-six percent."

"Those are just odds we're going to have to live with." T reaffirmed from underneath one of the CPU data-shelves, which was about the size of an actual bookshelf, with the processing power and memory capacity of roughly a dozen Scrolls. "You'll be more useful to the operations this way, and it may help the others accept your permanent presence as part of the team."

"I'm still unsure about these new 'personality programs' that you insist on installing, captain." The formless artificial intelligence continued. "According to my predictions, additional personalities may conflict with mission tasks in the future, and could reduce our chances of success by as much as eighty percent if I were to…hesitate because of one or more conflicting programs."

"Well," T breathed out as he unlocked one of the panels underneath the data-shelf to remove one of the playing card-sized chips and insert two more. "-I'll leave that up to your good judgement. From what I've understood about the reports from Atlas Tech, giving one of their synthetics _free will_ has improved its situational awareness and ability to improvise in the field twice as effectively as any of their best specialists." He continued while sliding out from under the large mechanical case. "I'm hoping these programs will do the same for you, and if not I've ensured that the master override remains part of your base programming."

Overwatch was silent for a few seconds before she spoke again as T began running some diagnostics with his Scroll. "I suppose it would not hurt to give it a shot. Though, if it were between the mission and you, I think we both know I'd always choose-"

"I know you would." T replied in a neutral tone. "I'm hoping these upgrades will allow you to somehow achieve both without having to sacrifice the other."

"Well, when you put it that way…" all the lights on T's Scroll blinked green as a large 'Restart' button appeared on the screen. "All necessary backup files have been saved and system is ready for reboot."

"This'll only take a second." T reassured, even though there was no need for it. "Initiating system-wide restart in three, two…one." His finger hit the screen, causing all the lights in the underground server room to dim before going out completely, coming back on five seconds later.

"Beginning initial system check." Came Overwatch's neutral tone as T walked over to a console attached to another data-shelf and opened it up to begin typing some command while he threw a metal disc into an open space in the underground vault. "All systems checked – no issues detected. Systems operating at optimal levels."

"Begin first live test of the 'Avatar' program." T commanded as the disk split apart into three, each sliding equal distance apart from one another. "Are you ready?" T asked after a few seconds hesitation.

"I don't think that matters at this point." Overwatch replied with a light laugh before the pieces of the disc began glowing bright-blue. "Initialising Avatar program." The synthetic repeated as the pieces of the disc began projecting beams of light that met one another to form a cage-like shape between them.

A few seconds passed by as the discs continued to emit a beeping noise before a figure began to materialise in the cage. A woman, wearing long work pants, a denim button-down vest and a light long sleeve shirt underneath it began to take form. Her hair reached down her back and her complexion was flawless. She had her eyes closed by the time the process was complete. _She looks just like her…_ "Overwatch?"

The figure immediately opened her eyes and turned to face T, her expression curious and neutral. "Yes, Captain?" her synthetic, accented voice sounded as if it had come from the figure – just as planned.

"Figure projection seems to be working normally." T said to himself while Overwatch began looking her holo-projected form. "Avatar response physics and sound redirection also working normally."

"Couldn't you have at least designed a more stylish form?" Overwatch suddenly asked the hacker. "I look like an Atlesian businesswoman – plus I know which year this outfit is from, and it is beyond outdated."

"Small talk and quirky speech patterns also appear to be functional." T deadpanned. _She always did dress to impress…_

"Is that what that is?" Overwatch asked when she looked at him again, waving a hand in front of her to shatter the cage of light around her new form. "Curious, it doesn't feel as unnatural or unnecessary as I initially theorised."

"It's…probably part of the new personalities I installed." T continued. "Before you ask, I did intentionally install a sarcasm software."

"I remember, you mentioned it yesterday." Overwatch stated as T took a few steps closer to the holographic figure while Overwatch held up one of her _hands_ to create a holographic display. "If I may, why _did_ you give me a sense of sarcasm?"

"Honestly?" T waved his Scroll in front of Overwatch's face – to her annoyance – while speaking. "I thought it would make for more interesting conversation."

"Like that won't get in the way of the missions in the future." The synthetic said with an eye roll before freezing when she just realised what she did.

"Exactly." Folding up his Scroll, T pocketed the device before holding up his normal hand to her. "Follow my finger."

The light projection's eyes – which glowed with a neon-blue – followed T's finger left and right as her mouth curved up into a smile. "Huh, it's…a little fun, actually."

"You're going to experience a lot of new, interesting features over the next few weeks." T continued. "You already know what they are, but it'll be different to experience them first-hand. You should take to them quite quickly, though, much faster than organics."

"The fact that I'm _feeling_ at all is surprising enough." Overwatch stated with a gentle smile. "It's…I guess I could use the word 'exciting', finally being able to express emotions this way."

"Follow me up to the compound – I want to test if the PRSM projectors are working." T commanded while he made his way to the ladder access for the server room. Behind him, Overwatch dematerialised and the lights on the discs went out.

"Captain," Overwatch began again, this time speaking through the earpiece that T wore. "Am I expected to still maintain a physical form while you are out of The Compound, or would you rather that I keep it off until you ask for it?"

"Use it whenever you feel like it." T answered simply while exiting the cellar that acted as a weapon storage. "There's things about it that you'll need to get used to."

"And about the ability to create shapes and forms, am I allowed to use those whenever I feel like it, too?"

"I don't see why not." T stated while entering the house. He walked into the room which had once been the kitchen of the house, but had since been converted into what looked more like a repair shop, with mechanical parts strewn all over the place. "Overwatch?"

Overwatch's physical figure suddenly materialised in the middle of the room, sitting in a chair while holding a cup to her lips and blowing the steam that wafted off it. The form was being projected by a series of lights – similar in design and function to the disc T had left in the server vault – that hung from the ceiling.

She looked up from her cup at the hacker before speaking. "Tea?"

It took T a couple of seconds to register that Overwatch may have made a play-on-words, which he responded to with a roll of his eyes before pointing a hand at her. "Follow me around the house."

The synthetic let out a resigning sigh before standing up from her chair and trailing a few paces behind T as he made his rounds around the house. Every time she walked out of range of one of the overhead lights, another would come on ahead of them and help maintain her image.

"Do you have any plans on giving me any abilities to physically interact with objects, Captain?" Overwatch asked just as her form flickered as it passed through the couch in the living room.

"Maybe in the future." T admitted. "But the technology would be hard to acquire as of late, and would be difficult to integrate into your system as it is." He explained while holding the door open for her into the above-ground storage room.

"I'm just saying, if I could interact with things, I could – I don't know – clean the house while you're out." Overwatch offered with a shrug. "As of two minutes ago, I can't help but notice how…disorderly some of the facilities in The Compound are, let alone the state of my data-shelves."

"I prioritised function over fashion, it doesn't matter how the place looks so long as it works." T replied.

"Well, now that we know it works, why not try to optimise a little?" the synthetic was insisting at this point, and T didn't feel like arguing at the moment.

"Fine, I see your point." He said in his usual irritated gruff voice. "Power up the Bullhead next; we're going to take it for a spin."

T immediately made a beeline for the exit to the house, but Overwatch stopped him before he could get very far by walking in front of him. "I'm…not so sure that's such a good idea, Captain."

Concerned by her tone, T stopped and turned around to face her holographic projection. "Why?"

Frowning, Overwatch's voice was laced with worry. "Captain, you haven't had any solid rest in the past thirty-three hours. Our rendezvous with the rest of MSTT is due in another fifteen and a half hours, and I'm concerned your fatigue may affect your overall field performance…not to mention your attitude."

T returned the frown at the synthetic's reasoning. "I'm fine, I just need to take another stimulant shot."

"You've already taken three in the past twenty-four hours; any more would exceed the recommended dosage. On top of that, your vitals are starting to intensify, which will likely result in a full-system crash in the next ten hours." Overwatch argued while bringing up a window to show T his own vital signs. "If you insist on working through your fatigue, at least take a seven-hour rest to allow your body time to recuperate."

Stubbornly, the hacker held his stare with the synthetic for a few additional seconds before relenting with a sigh. "Fine. Continue running diagnostics while I'm out, and make sure to come wake me in _six_ hours – that's an order."

Without another word, T turned and began making his way to his quarters as Overwatch continued to watch him as he went, frowning in worry as she brought up the holographic cup of tea to her lips and took a sip. "I don't even know why I bothered – I know I can't taste." Overwatch said to herself. Standing there in silence for another few seconds, the synthetic intelligence continued speaking to herself. "No, don't be ridiculous; taste isn't a vital function – it would just be unnecessary programming."

Yet, she found herself lifting the cup to her lips after a couple seconds of idleness.


	31. Chapter 26

**A/N: I had originally intended to release this chapter at the start of February 1st in memory of Monty Oum, but I forgot about the dates and kinda dragged my feet with this, so it might end up uploading a day later - at the most. Monty was an inspiration to me, probably not as much as he is to some others, but he's up there with my muses. I put a lot of my effort into my writing, and hope that this stuff holds a candle to the art the man has made over the years.**

 **May you tear up the celestial dance-floor in the afterlife, Monty.**

Clandestine Grey

 **Fifteen hours later…**

Having to pick out fruit from a stall had to be one of the most menial, yet relaxing tasks SK had done all month. The fact was that this was not the first time this month that he had to go through normal, everyday tasks to stay alive. For the past two or so weeks, the rogue had taken the time to get around Mistral and explore the place as a temporary resident after T had left him and the others at the local airport with only the faintest ideas of what their next move was.

" _Stay alive, and I'll come find you in a fortnight."_ T had told them. _"We need to be careful about our next move."_

Well, it had been roughly two weeks, and since then the hacker had only given them a potential rendezvous point that they were supposed to check in on at a certain time of day to see if T would show up. The fact was that while T did explain and share with them much of his knowledge of Cinder and her operations, he still avoided any straight answers and had yet to tell them what the next course of action would be against the woman.

In SK's opinion, they had been sitting around doing nothing for a week too long. If it were up to him, they would have gone after Cinder as soon as they were rested and had restocked on Dust, but it wasn't up to him, and he didn't know where Cinder was.

Tapping the side of his glasses, he checked the time to make sure he was not running late for the rendezvous set in less than half an hour. Nodding to the fruit vendor that he was ready to make his purchase, SK gave him the balance of Lien before accepting the plastic bag of fresh fruit before heading down the street to the hotel where he always went to wait at this time of day.

To say that the city of Mistral itself was unique to the other Kingdoms would have been a great understatement in SK's mind. He had seen villages spring up and develop in valleys before, but never could the rogue have imagined a Kingdom to cover an _entire_ valley, with buildings, towers and defensive structures lining the mountains that surrounded central Mistral. It didn't hold as much territory as Vacuo did, but from what SK could tell, it had a better time of holding onto it, unlike Vacuo's sandy dunes and waterways, which were constantly contested between the Grimm and the Kingdom itself.

This security gave way to the vast sprawling culture and structure designs that Mistral was famous for, which the rogue couldn't help but admire now that he had a chance to really see it. The people here were also happier than those back in Vacuo, but they were also more careful with what they did, and it was quite clear that they did not blindly trust outsiders.

SK had to stretch the neck-lining of his cowl as he was reminded of one of the downsides of Anima; the weather. Back in Vacuo, the weather was quite consistent; hot and dry all year round. Here, however, the Mistral temperature could drop when a cool breeze blew some clouds their way only to rise back up an hour later, with the atmosphere being perpetually humid no matter what the temperature was.

Still, it didn't stop the rogue from getting a walnut-brown tactical vest that zipped up along the middle and had a thicker fabric weave. It wasn't as comfortable as the plain shirts he wore before and restricted mobility more, but it made up for it in the numerous pockets along it that SK used to store a variety of munitions and tools.

He had his cowl pulled back now in order to look less conspicuous among the people going about their business in Mistral, and to better take in the details around him.

It was only when SK had to stop at the side of an intersection in the road to let a few cars pass by did he realise that something was off. Trying to hide it with a fake yawn, the onyx-haired boy slowly turned his head about in different directions in order to get a good look at his surroundings. At first, it didn't seem like anything was off, until he noticed a man staring straight at him from across the street. The man was wearing several layers of light military-grade body armour, and while SK didn't notice every little detail, he could tell the man was armed.

When the rogue turned his head slightly to get a better look at the man a second time, the man had already disappeared behind a crowd of people walking in the opposite direction to him. Not wanting to completely dismiss his feeling as simple paranoia, SK began walking at a faster pace once the traffic cleared to get to the hotel, taking the opportunity to turn invisible when no one was looking.

Along the way, he felt more eyes following his movements before finally reaching the hotel lobby and pushing in faster and harder than he had meant to while subconsciously dropping his Semblance. No one paid him any attention beyond a passing glance, however, and SK quickly found his breath and regained his composure as he took a seat by one of the waiting tables near the hotel windows.

To his credit, the hotel T picked out was better than the rogue could have hoped for. It wasn't one of the better-looking hotels in Mistral, but it didn't get much business, which worked to their advantage and reduced the chances that someone who would recognise them would walk in. From his experience of coming here every day, there were never more than seven people in the lobby at all times, counting members of staff, and given how out-of-the-way the hotel looked, he could tell that most people that stayed here didn't want to be found. The staff were helpful enough, but kept to themselves and didn't ask too many questions. Most of all, they hardly reacted or paid attention when the three came in under less-than-ideal conditions; such as the time Mason walked in with a knife in his arm or the time that Tanner walked in with a bloodstained undershirt.

It was almost like they were used to this sort of thing happening, which made SK suspect that the hotel may actually be a front for crime in Mistral.

But what did he care, they never asked questions.

Quickly taking stock of everyone in the lobby, SK tried to avoid any and all attention as he pulled out one of the fruits he had bought earlier and ate it to pass the time. He checked the time between bites to count down the seconds to when the others would arrive.

If they arrived at all. While SK was determined to do whatever it takes to follow up on the one advantage he had over Cinder, the other two were beginning to get bored of waiting, and had even discussed splitting away from T to work together without the aid of the hacker.

Fortunately, none of the talk had come to pass – yet.

It was after he had finished his first apricot and halfway through his first banana that someone approached SK, tapping him once on the shoulder before plopping down in the lounge chair opposite to him.

"Mind if I sit here, stranger?" Tanner asked him while tipping his new hat – a white fedora, after putting down one of the two glasses of alcohol in his hands.

"Not at all…stranger." SK replied without making direct eye-contact as he wrapped up the remains of his fruit in the tissue paper the hotel provided at each of the lounge tables.

"Brandy?" Tanner asked while offering one of the two glasses he brought with him.

"I don't drink – it throws off my aim." The rogue answered curtly as Tanner took a swig of his own brandy. "Isn't white a bit too obvious?" he asked while throwing the bundle of trash straight into the trash can three metres away, startling a housekeeping lady that was walking by it.

"Nonsense, it goes with the outfit." Tanner replied while glancing the rogue up and down. "Meanwhile I see you still refuse to change your style beyond a new shirt."

"We can't afford to waste time or money shopping for clothes every other week." SK rebutted with a hard frown. "How many Lien did you burn on…this, anyway." SK asked while gesturing to the new marble-white coat Tanner loosely wore over a black undershirt with his emblem sewn into the fabric. The military coat looked like it could afford a week's stay at one of the classier hotels in Mistral, as evident by the shiny brass buttons that lined its front and the Atlesian impact-proof fabric weave of the coat.

 _At least, I think they're brass…could they be…no, they couldn't be gold._ SK thought to himself. _Shit, are they actually gold? I might actually slit his throat if they're gold. The whole ensemble must be custom._

"Hey, it's not for me to judge if you want to go into battle looking like a street urchin." Tanner quipped while leaning back and taking a sip of his brandy. "As for me, if I'm going to have to fight someone, I want to look classy while doing it."

"Yeah? Well you'll stand out like a white knight if we ever have to sneak around in the dark again."

"I take that as a compliment." Tanner replied smugly as he took his hat off and tossed it on the table between them.

Resigning to the understanding that this is how things would be, SK pinched the bridge of his nose while talking. "Where's the marauder?"

"Who, Mason?" Tanner asked rhetorically. "He'll be here, he just said he wanted to go eat some meat or something like that? What's with you today, you seem…well, even more on-edge than usual?"

SK took his time with checking his surroundings before returning his attention on the swordsman sitting across from him. "I think I was being followed." He said in his usual dead-serious tone once he was sure no one would listen in on their talk.

At that, the brunette quirked an eyebrow before taking a quick glance to his right and left. "Followed? What'd you mean _followed_? How're you so sure?" the barrage of questions came gradually, but quickly enough that SK wasn't able to get a reply in.

"Across the street while I was walking here – a guy in body armour was staring right at me. He had to have been looking at me for at least a solid five seconds." The rogue explained when he was finally able to get in a few words between Tanner's questions.

Tanner fell silent for a few seconds as he processed the rogue's words and serious tone. "Did he look like he was sizing you up?"

"Maybe. When I turned to look at him properly, he was already walking away and didn't seem to be heading in the same direction as me." SK continued.

"Well that doesn't mean shit in my book." Tanner stated firmly. "Anyone could find an alternate route to cut you off down the road. Best case scenario: you threw him off by coming here."

"And worst case?"

The swordsman's tone was dead serious as he picked up the spare glass of brandy and downed half of it in one go. "He already knew where you were going."

SK took a moment to ponder on what the brunette said before replying with a question. "Anything like that happened to you?"

Tanner looked like he was about to reply, but was cut off by Mason's arrival, which he announced with a loud, "Hey, guys!" before walking over. When SK turned to look at the marauder, he was just as shocked as Tanner to see the redhead carrying a severed arm under one of his armpits.

"Mason," the swordsman yelled in a hushed voice. "What the f-"

"Shut up and hold this." The redhead interrupted by tossing the severed limb at Tanner, who fumbled with getting a comfortable grip on it as Mason plopped down in the seat next to him before drawing out a gun that had been partially stuffed in the back of his pants.

"What's that?" SK asked while trying not to look at the detached body part.

"This is the weapon the asshole with _that_ arm tried to kill me with." Mason explained while gesturing towards the arm that Tanner was barely holding on to between two fingers, keeping it as far away from him as he could as Mason placed the gun on the table and began taking it apart. "Thought he had me and led me into an alley so he could ice me quietly, so, naturally, I took his gun."

"Then why am I holding his arm?" Tanner hissed between gritted teeth.

"Oh, because I killed him and his hand wouldn't let go of the gun at first, silly. Isn't that obvious?" Mason asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "This piece of eye-candy here, isn't as obvious."

"What'd you mean?" Asked SK, now more interested in where the redhead was going with this. _It isn't often Mason actually looks like he knows something useful – must be important._

"This here is a custom-made foldable machine-pistol, complete with settings for semi, burst and auto-fire, thirty round magazines, airsoft anti-jamming mechanism, adaptive rails and a foldable knife concealed in the fore-grip." Mason explained while dismantling the gun, only finishing once the machine-pistol was a pile of individual parts.

"…Ok," Tanner exclaimed after taking a few seconds to process everything the berserker said. "What does it mean?"

"Well it's a Mistral design but the parts are made from Vale." The redhead continued while holding up the dampener frame of the gun. "See it says so right here, 'Made in Vale'."

"Which means it's a custom make, not distributed by a weapons dealer or normal gun store." SK finished for him. "What does that mean though, he's some kind of merc or hitman?"

"Could be, could not be. We may never know." Mason said with a shrug as he began picking through the individual weapon parts. "Also, I found his Scroll and it had a selfie of me in it along with a bounty reward, so yeah, probably a bounty hunter."

"Well why didn't you-" Tanner was cut off as his Scroll began to ring loud enough for all three of them to hear. "That's weird, I thought I muted this thing." The brunette mused to himself while pulling the Scroll out of his pocket. He gasped when his eyes landed on the screen of the device. "It's T."

That got everyone's attention, and the other two mercenaries moved to crowd behind where Tanner sat to get a better look at his Scroll. "What did he say?" SK asked.

"It's…just some numbers. Wait, this looks like the name of a hotel room, probably in this place too." Tanner thought out loud as he re-read the message. "I think he wants us to meet him there."

"Let's not keep T waiting, then." SK declared, grabbing the handful of items he brought with him before standing up and making his way to the elevator. On his way, the rogue tossed away the remaining fruit he had bought, not wanting to carry around the extra baggage on the chance that something came up and they had to start running.

He was standing by one of the open elevators by the time Tanner and Mason arrived, the brunette somehow managing to dispose of the severed arm he had been carrying before stepping into the elevator before SK. The last to enter, the onyx-haired boy tapped his foot impatiently as he watched the elevator doors close.

Only to be stopped by a hand that forced its way between them.

As the doors began to automatically part again, they revealed a woman about SK's age in a dark-red hoodie with a short katana-like blade slung on her hip, standing on the other side of the door. Her hair was tied back in a bun, and without hesitation the woman stepped into the elevator with the three other occupants.

All eyes fell on her as she kept her gaze fixed to the door as the lift made its ascent, as her off-hand held on to the scabbard of her sword while her free hand looked like it would move to draw the blade any second.

Though there was no reason to suspect anything, SK had a feeling that she _knew_ who they were, and was here because of them. However, she remained completely silent the whole trip up, which felt more like ten minutes instead of ten seconds. At times, SK was tempted to reach for his own blade, and could tell by the untrusting look in Tanner's eyes that he wanted to do the same with his guns.

Mason, on the other hand, was the only one who tried to open up with conversation. "So, you like jazz?"

Admittedly, it was as much as SK expected out of the berserker.

They arrived on their floor only a few seconds later, and as they exited the elevator – SK and Tanner keeping the girl in their line of sight at all times, the girl remained where she was as the doors slid shut again.

"You felt that too, right?" Tanner asked him in a hushed murmur.

"Yeah," SK replied. "You didn't see her push any buttons in there, did you?"

"No I did not." The brunette replied before taking off at a brisk pace down one of the hallways. "C'mon, we better get to T before we run into any more trouble."

Tanner took the lead as they walked down the empty corridors lined with doors on either side at different intervals before the swordsman suddenly stopped at one of them. Pulling out his Scroll, he took a glance at the screen before nodding to himself. "This is it." With the Scroll still in his hand, he waved it over the scanner that acted as the door's locking mechanism before standing back as the light changed from red to green.

More out of concern than fear at the sound of several mechanisms behind the door to the hotel room whirring loudly, Tanner took another involuntary step backwards as he and the others waited for whatever was behind the door to stop working before attempting to open the door. Knowing T, it was likely a trap that would only disarm for whoever T wanted it disarmed for.

Surprisingly, the door to the room slid open to the side by itself as soon as the whirring stopped, giving the three passage into the unlit room in front of them. The blinds in the room had been pulled over the windows, cutting off nearly all light aside from the little slivers that slipped in through the gaps at the edges of the thick curtains, making it hard to make out any shapes in the room.

Tanner's right hand involuntarily fell on Beofield's hilt as he walked in without hesitation. The other two followed, and as soon as Mason was through the door, it shut itself, plunging them into darkness.

"T, you here?" Tanner asked as he tried the light switches with no effect. "I can't see shit."

The sound of something humming to life in the centre of the main room caught their attention, and was soon followed by the lights on a circular object on the floor coming on before glowing brighter and brighter as the device began to project shapes and images in the air around it. Standing in front of it was T, with his hands clasped behind his back as he stared at them intently.

"Couldn't have been a little more vague with the details?" Tanner asked sarcastically as he stepped in the light of the holo-projector. From what Tanner could see, the hotel room – unlike the others here, which the brunette did in fact rent one night just to try out – was completely devoid of furniture or any appliances.

"I couldn't take the risks – we're being monitored." T replied curtly as he grabbed at a holographic screen floating by him.

"I knew it." SK stated as he stayed on the edge of the projector's field in the room, which casted some light on his front. "So I _was_ being followed earlier."

"Chances are that any bounty hunters after us already have a good idea of where we are, so the decoys I set up won't work for very long." T declared while enlarging the encrypted screen of text in front of him.

"Wait, wait, wait! Bounty hunters? Decoys?" Tanner asked in a tone of disbelief. "You gonna start telling us what's happening or not?"

"I thought you had connections to the criminal underworld, Vermillion." The hacker countered as the screen began its decryption process.

"Yeah, but you specifically told us to 'Lay low, or else'." Tanner replied, emphasising each word with finger gestures. Tanner knew better than to reach out to any of his underground contacts if he was trying to lay low, even if he was in Mistral, word travelled fast, and he had enemies in every Kingdom.

Unperturbed by Tanner's reply, T continued as if he hadn't said anything as soon as the screen of light in front of him finally deciphered into readable text. "Roman Torchwick had put up an open bounty on all of us: dead or alive." He explained while enlarging the images of each of their wanted posters for everyone in the room to see.

"Ten million Lien!" Mason exclaimed in shock. "Finally, a bounty worth the ass on me."

"Word about the bounty has spread all over Mistral, and rumour is that Roman is contacting acquaintances all over Remnant to try to get them try and collect the reward." T continued as another screen showing lines of communication all over Remnant appeared. All the lines seemed to converge back to Mistral, but the number of outgoing lines to other Kingdoms was somewhat alarming to the swordsman.

"So now we've got to worry about all sorts of bounty hunters and mercenaries coming after us on top of Cinder, the White Fang, the Mistral police," SK listed off. "-need I go on?"

"Then what's our next move?" Tanner asked, wanting to get straight to the point as his growing paranoia was finally getting to him. "If we get Cinder, then it'll at least take her, the White Fang and the threat of the Kingdom's collapsing out of the picture, right?"

"Possibly, but we can't attack Cinder head-on or try to trap her like we did last time." T replied as the holographic screens around them began to change. "Assuming she somehow has control over small numbers of Grimm, the only chance we'll have of taking her down while reducing the risk of casualties on our side is to force her to make a mistake."

"Ok, how're we gonna do that?" Tanner asked.

"Much of Cinder's plans right now hinge on the support of the White Fang and several other criminal organisations in Mistral." As T explained this, a map of Anima appeared in front of him, with several blue and red crosses on it. "Her operations are close to achieving the amount of Dust and weapons she needs to destroy Haven academy, but if we hit the Fang and the individual crime syndicates and cut off her supplies at the source…"

"We stand a chance at slowing her down – and making her more reckless." Tanner finished as a smirk developed on his face. "Clever. Where do we start?"

"Since the blows we dealt to the White Fang over the past month, they've become more careful and wary. They're constantly moving their strongholds around in an irregular pattern, meaning any intel I have on them is outdated." T continued. "Therefore, it would make sense to go after the criminal organisations, but recently Overwatch picked up an outgoing message from one of the members of the White Fang, claiming he wants to defect." A new window appeared for everyone to see, showing them the mugshot of a deer Faunus with almond-brown hair. "He's going by the codename: Trojan, and claims to know where nearly all the White Fang camps throughout Mistral are going to move next week."

"Sounds too good to be true." SK muttered. "What does he want in return?"

"An 'out' from the Fang and a new ID to slip away." T replied.

"So the usual stuff a traitor asks for." The brunette swordsman commented. "Can we trust him?"

"Unlikely," T replied immediately. "-but he's the only lead we got at a possible coordinated attack on the Fang. We don't even have to be there to take them down – so long as I can confirm the coordinates, I can order a small-payload ballistic missile strike on the sights and wipe them off the face of Remnant."

"Any direct contact with him?"

"Only through secure communication lines. He's given me a time and a place he wants us to extract him from, so we've got a window of two days to pull this off." The map of Anima quickly zoomed in on one of the red crosses on the map, enlarging to show a transparent red circle over a part of the land. "If we miss it, we won't have any leads on where the Fang outposts will shift around next, and by then it'll be too late to stop Cinder's plans to bring down Haven."

"That can't be it, right?" SK asked sceptically. "It's too straightforward."

"Well, maybe we could use a little straightforward for a change." Tanner reasoned.

"I'd like a little straightforward." Mason stated. "Y'know, a little swing-swing, slashy-slash. Some simple M-rated violence; blood and gore, maybe some partial nudity and sexual content if we're lucky?"

"What about Neo?" SK asked, causing the whole room to fall silent apart from the constant hum of the projector. "You didn't give us a straight answer last time, so I expect one now." A few seconds passed with nothing but silence from T as the hacker averted his gaze from the rogue and redirected it at the floor. "Look, we're going to have to go up against them at some point again, and if you're not going to give me a reason to spare Neo, I'm walking out of this – right now. I won't stand for it if I have a clear shot on her, and you throw me off, so talk!"

When T looked up again, he held an unwavering stare at SK, who didn't back down either. Eventually, the hacker let out a resigned sigh. "Neo's my-" the change in colour of the central beam of light coming from the projector from a steady blue to a pulsing red cut the hacker off, however, as a red screen appeared in front of him. Even though he could only read it backwards from where he stood, Tanner could still make out what it said with alarm.

'Proximity Alert! Danger Imminent!'

"T what's going on?" the swordsman asked while reflexively drawing his triple-barrelled pistol.

"We're out of time." He said as the screens spinning around the holo-projector blinked away one-by-one, only to be replaced by a pulse of light that covered the entire room and line all the edges in the empty room. "They're making their move."

"Who?" SK asked while also drawing his falchion. "Cinder?"

"Bounty hunters." T stated calmly while bringing up his Scroll. "Three by the door, one preparing a breach charge set to go off in ten seconds." As T spoke, a flat outline of three figures appeared on the walls and door in the room, created by the projector to mark them out. "Two snipers on the roof of the ramen shop opposite the hotel." Another pair of smaller outlines appeared on the far wall by the covered window. "Five on the street, waiting to intercept us if we make it out. Five seconds."

"Aw, yiss. Finally, some action!" Mason exclaimed while drawing both his weapons and standing in a ready position.

"So then what's our move?" Tanner asked frantically as he processed all this information while drawing his sabre, looking back and forth between the marked targets.

"We need to make it to Overwatch. There are likely to be bounty hunters at the airport – Mistral PD has just been alerted of a bombing. Two seconds." The hacker's blurted jumble of words didn't make sense to the brunette, so he turned to his next best option with the little time he had left.

"SK, what're your sug-" when he turned his head, however, the rogue was nowhere to be seen. Before he could even curse under his breath, the entrance to the hotel room was blown open in a shower of splinters.

Without any clue as to how the others would respond, Tanner went with his gut instinct and fired at will.


	32. Chapter 27

Hunting Season

 **A/N: In case you were wondering, yes, what happens in this chapter is mostly inspired by John Wick Chapter 2, the Kingsman movies, along with quite a few other movies involving lots of shooting.**

 **Also, this chapter took a little (a lot, actually) longer than I initially planned for it to be, and as such the conclusion will only follow in the next chapter.**

 **Ten Seconds Later…**

Somewhere in the midst of the chaos, Mason got separated from the others when he was pulled into a room by three armed mercenaries that had been waiting to get the jump on him. Unfortunately for them, the redhead was more than ready to deal with them than they expected as they threw him against the wall of the hotel suite.

Instead of immediately fighting back, Mason rolled out of the way as one of them tried to stab him in the shoulder with a knife. Pushing off the wall, Mason then twirled around the third man before pulling out Fuil, folded up into its gun form, and taking shots at the other two men while using the one in his grasp as a shield, his arm firmly coiled around the man's neck.

Though the shots were not powerful enough to break through their Aura, the force the rounds carried with them was enough to knock the two men to the ground while Mason hooked his right leg around the mercenary's left leg before throwing him onto the bed next to them. Then, in one fluid motion, Mason had Bas out and drove it into the man's chest after two swings to break through his Aura.

While the strike didn't kill him, it was enough to leave him reeling from the pain as Mason unfolded his sword-gun to block a strike from the mercenary with the knife, now wielding a second knife in his other hand. All the while, the remaining mercenary brought out his bayonet-mounted grenade launcher and waited a few seconds before striking out at the redhead.

With his longsword over his shoulder to block another slash from the knife-wielding mercenary, Mason was able to twist out of the way of the strike and grab the grenade launcher by the barrel, pulling it out of the mercenary's hands before he could do anything. Twisting on the spot, Mason then bashed the grenade launcher over the head of the mercenary that had tried to slash him before dealing a slash of his own on the disarmed mercenary.

One man was thrown back by the force of the blow while the other stumbled from the pain of being smacked by a fully loaded grenade launcher. Stepping up to the knife-wielding mercenary, Mason grabbed one of his wrists while he wasn't paying attention and drove the man's own knife through his chest while pushing him to the ground before making a move to retrieve his axe and dig it deeper into the same man.

When all was quiet for a few seconds, Mason let out a victorious cheer. "Oh, did you see that? Pro skills, bitches!" his celebrating was interrupted by the sound of a gun cocking, however, as the last man stood back up with a pistol in his hands.

Instead of immediately attacking, however, Mason quirked an eyebrow before scoffing. "Really? What're you gonna do with that?"

"Uhh," the man droned as he first looked down at his own weapon before glancing at Mason's. For a few seconds, the mercenary seemed at an impasse for what to do before suddenly changing his aim and firing once.

Mason was able to swivel his eyes fast enough to look in the direction the man had fired, but he wasn't able to do anything else as the bullet made impact with the discarded grenade launcher, causing its ammunition to ignite and throw him through the wall of the suite and out of the hotel.

"Aw, crap!" Mason cursed as he twisted in mid-air while fumbling with his weapons to strap Fuil to his body while transforming Bas back into its sawed-off shotgun mode and firing both rounds in the chamber out at the air, aiming away from the hotel. The backwards force worked to push the redhead back towards the hotel – as planned – and partway through one of the windows halfway down the building.

He heard a woman scream as he tried to get his other foot through the now-broken window as he rolled into the room he had crashed through, laying on the ground for a second as he let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a groan of pain.

A blonde-haired woman came over to him a second later with a morning-star in her hands, ready to bring it down on him. In response, Mason hopped to his feet while aiming his shotgun at her, even though it didn't have any bullets in it. "Oof, sorry to intrude, m'lady." He said with a polite dip of his head. "Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking my leave n-" he didn't get to finish as a pair of high-caliber sniper rounds pierced the wall next to him, and he made a mad dash for the door to the hotel room, charging into it with reckless abandon and breaking it off its hinges.

Between the sound of more gunshots and his feet pounding against the hallway as he made his way towards the elevator, Mason also heard the distinct sound of his Scroll ringing along the way. Pulling it out, he answered the call without checking who it was. "Y'ello?"

"Mason, where are you?" Tanner yelled back from the other side of the line, the background filled with the sounds of gunfire and fighting.

"Oh, hey Tanner. I'm just makin' my way down now." He stated casually as he reached the elevator and pressed the button to summon it. "I'll regroup with you guys like we planned, so hold your horses."

"Hold my-" the brunette on the other end was interrupted by the sound of swords clashing before a choking sound came over as if a man could not breathe. "Oh, forget it, just get down here before we leave – SK's already run off on his own, again."

"Oh, how typically emo of him." Mason commented just as the elevator reached the floor he was on. Right before he could enter it, however, a sword was thrust between the doors as they open, and Mason narrowly caught the blade between his palms.

Looking down the length of the katana, he realised his attacker was the same hooded girl from before, and offered her a smile as he pushed the blade up and delivered a solid kick to her chest, knocking her to the back of the elevator.

"Ok, good-talking-to-you-gotta-go-bye!" Mason rambled into his Scroll, which now had a slight scratch in it after having used it to catch a sword, before putting it away and drawing Fuil once more.

The redhead quickly transformed the weapon into its heavy-pistol mode and fired several rounds at the girl in the elevator. To his disappointment, the girl had better reflexes than Mason anticipated and was able to deflect or dodge each shot he fired.

After the fifth shot, the berserker paused for a second when he noticed how a couple of the deflected bullets had punched holes in the roof of the elevator. Quickly weighing up his options, an idea came to mind as he aimed at the centre of the elevator's roof and fired two shots.

When the second round pierced the roof, a loud, heavy snapping sound followed as the elevator suddenly sank with a groan. The hooded girl's eyes widened in realisation and shock as Mason gave her a parting smirk. "It's probably better if I take the stairs."

At the last second, the girl tried to reach out and grab the redhead with her free hand, but fell away when the elevator gave a sharp snapping sound and plummeted down the shaft. As he leaned over the doorway to get a look down the elevator shaft, Mason let out a low-pitch whistle as he watched the elevator's brakes kick in right before it hit the bottom floor. "Shame – she didn't go splat." He stood where he was a second longer before the sound of a door suddenly being kicked out drew his attention to a man carrying a greatsword who had entered the corridor, and was now dropping into a battle stance in front of the berserker.

Seeing the obvious challenge, Mason gave the swordsman a cocky grin while drawing both his weapons. "Really?" In response to the challenge, the man hefted his sword back and held it in a ready position to strike. With a sigh of frustration Mason began approaching the man. "This will be quick."

A mere nine seconds later and the redhead was making his way down the emergency staircase exit of the hotel, his attire now splotched with someone else's blood.

The descent to the ground floor of the hotel was no less eventful for the redhead. Halfway between the first and second floor, a pair of shotgun-armed mercenaries burst through the door to the emergency staircase, cutting Mason off from going down further. They spotted the berserker immediately and fired at him even though they were out of effective range.

As he improvised on the spot, Mason charged down the stairs towards them while pulling out a small vial of Lightning Dust from his belt, which he cracked in a clenched fist and allowed the Dust to spill into his bloodied hand. Just as he was about to reach the landing the two mercenaries were on, he jumped and kicked off the wall to dive towards the two, extending his hand towards them just as a crackle of electricity shot out.

The lightning chained between the two mercs – not nearly enough to kill them, but enough to stun them long enough for Mason to push them over the railings and take the express travel method to the ground floor.

"Double kill." He managed to breathe out between exhausted breaths as he stumbled down the rest of the stairs to the lobby.

Pushing open the door to the lobby, Mason was immediately greeted by a cluster of shrapnel from a shotgun buck-shot which smacked into the wall next to him, cracking the wooden boards that made up the walls of the hotel.

When the redhead looked in the direction the shotgun blast came from, he spotted a pump-action shotgun sticking out from behind the reception desk. "Get out of my hotel!" the voice of an old man called out from behind the desk.

Before Mason was able to manage a response, a screaming body flew in front of him before hitting the wall hard, knocking the man out. As he turned to look in the direction the body came from, he spotted Tanner, who was taking cover behind an overturned table as rounds of ammunition flew through the open windows _and_ the far wall. "Mars, get over here!" he shouted as a round of bullets punched holes in the brittle wood.

Quickly stowing his weapons, Mason made his way over to the table in a low crouch as bullets flew over his head before sliding up next to the swordsman. "Yo, what's up, brudda?"

"Not the time," Tanner snapped back at him while peeking over the edge of the table. "T got separated from us when the guys outside pulled out a grenade launcher. He should be-" the brunette stopped mid-sentence when his eyes landed on something across the street. "Oh shit."

"What?" Mason asked while standing up next to Tanner. The berserker immediately saw what had caused Tanner to lock up: a pair of turret-mounted heavy-calibre machine guns which had been set up while several other gunmen sprayed their position with gunfire to keep them distracted.

"Run!" Tanner screamed just as the gunners manning the turrets began to open fire and tear apart their fragile cover. With a quick sweep of everything in his line of sight, Mason scrambled to his feet as he noticed one of the wooden pillars was near enough to him to take cover behind. A keen observation revealed to the redhead that, despite being covered in impact holes and chips, the wood remained as one solid length without any major damage. The conclusion Mason drew from this was that it was some kind of petrified wood – hard enough to block bullets.

Tanner, on the other hand, scrambled across the floor at an astounding speed as a trail of bullets followed him. He eventually stopped in a low crouch as he pulled the tower shield off a wounded – and unconscious – mercenary and held it in front of him to block the shots.

 _Fuckity, fuck. We're not going anywhere with those turrets up._ Mason thought with a grimace. In hopes that his luck would hold out for him, the redhead stuck his heavy-pistol around the edge of his cover and fired a few shots blindly. The weapon clicked dry only after a few shots, doing nothing to impede the shower of bullets that came his way.

In fact, firing back at the gunmen proved to be counter-productive as a concentrated stream of bullets ate through his wooden beam faster than he would have liked. Dropping down lower to reduce his exposure, he pulled out his Scroll before hitting the first hotline he could find. "Me need help – useless teammates!" he shouted to be heard over the sound of the guns.

"Not much I can do unless I find an explosive on one of these bodies." Tanner replied, shouting almost loud enough to be heard by Mason from where he was.

Mason was about to throw out a witty comeback when a screech of static over the line caused his features to crinkle as he held the device away from his ear until it stopped. When he put it back to his ear, the calm, monotonous voice of T was there instead of Tanner. "Standby for immediate mortar strike."

Before Mason could fully process what T had just said, his sharp ears picked up a high-pitched wailing sound that was progressively getting louder and lower in pitch. Just as the pieces clicked together in his head, Mason barely had enough time to brace himself against the ground as an explosive shell landed right on the mounted turrets on the opposite side of the street. A cloud of dust erupted from the point of impact and covered the whole street for about nine seconds before it cleared enough for Mason to see how much damage it had done.

As he suspected, both machine guns had been blasted off their twisted, bent turret mount, with either machine gun being in a different state of damage. The gunmen were knocked down by the blast, but it looked like their Aura absorbed nearly all the damage, if their squirming was any indication.

 _Gotta give those guys some credit,_ Mason thought to himself while coming out of cover. _They had to be right next to the centre of that blast._

"T, you're a life-saver!" Tanner exclaimed as he bounded out of cover and onto the street. Mason followed at a leisurely pace, walking towards the concussed gunners on the ground.

As he neared one, his foot caught on one of the machine guns they had been using to spray the hotel with. Bending over, he picked up the damaged weapon and looked it over to assess whether it might still be usable. With a hard slap to its side, Mason found that sharp impacts to the weapon's frame still caused it to fire a burst of rounds.

"Shame, really." He said to the gunner at his feet, who was still crawling towards a pistol just out of his reach. "I kinda liked that hotel." Aiming the end of the gun at the mercenary, Mason gave it a firm slap – the rounds penetrating his Aura with ease – before repeating the process with the other downed gunmen.

"What do we do now? Is the rendezvous point still clear or…oh, ok." covering the mouth-piece of the Scroll, the brunette turned to look at the redhead. "T wants you on the phone as well." He told him before putting the Scroll back to his ear. "Yeah – I told him already!"

Tossing the broken machine gun back on the ground, Mason pulled his Scroll out of his pocket and put it to his ear. "Y'ello, Mason here."

When T spoke over the Scroll on the joint-frequency, his voice clearly conveyed his only-business tone. "The rendezvous point has remained unchanged, but some of the roads there have been blocked off. Apparently someone tipped the Mistral police off, and there are more bounty hunters after us than I thought." A few gunshots could be heard from the other end of the line.

"T, where the hell are you?" Tanner asked, quickly searching some of the bodies for spare ammunition. "We'll come to you – just give us your position."

"No time for that - head to the rendezvous point _now_! Overwatch will be standing by and I've marked out the clearest route for you to take on your Scrolls."

As Tanner brought the Scroll away from his ear, a small holographic outline of the sector of the city they were in appeared, along with a red line that ran along the different streets. The swordsman was about to reply when a burst of gunfire suddenly came from their right. Turning in the direction of its source, Mason saw a new squad of armed mercenaries coming down the street – some of them on motorbikes.

"Ah, roger boss, though we might be a little delayed." Mason said as Tanner quickly closed his Scroll and started running down the street, with the redhead in tow as the sound of engines could be heard.

* * *

 **Same Time…**

"What do you mean 'delayed'?" T asked, his annoyance seeping into his tone as he took cover behind a food stall on the side of the road as another burst of crossbow bolts struck the area around him.

Not bothering to wait for a reply, the hacker cut off the call before switching his Scroll to Overwatch's interface and speaking into his earpiece. "Overwatch, I need you to locate the archer and give me a firing solution." He commanded.

"Certainly, Captain, but you'll need to give me a view of the area first." Overwatch's calm voice replied. T's fingers ghosted over the icons on his Scroll, moving fast with familiarity as he activated its camera function. With his back to the stall, he poked the device over the top of the cart for a few seconds, which was met by several poorly placed shots that landed nowhere near his hand or Scroll.

"Got it!" Overwatch exclaimed excitably as the display in his vision changed to show several lines streaking off into the distance. "I was also able to mark out three other gunmen taking cover in the buildings around you – shouldn't be too much trouble for you to dispatch."

"Let's focus on the archer first." T stated while swapping out the nearly-empty clip in his pistol for a fresh one.

"Right, she's on the roof of the pharmacy at your…five o'clock." Overwatch replied after a second of thinking.

"Firing solution ready?"

"Sync."

"Mark." Like a coiled spring, T sprung to his feet and fired three shots at the roof, doing his best to aim where the line led him. After the third shot, the cyborg quickly ducked back down behind cover as another barrage of firepower struck his position. "Did it work?"

"None of the shots connected." The tone in Overwatch's voice was a little _too_ optimistic for T.

"None? I thought you said you had a firing solution?" T asked in an annoyed, sharp tone just as a couple lucky shots broke through the supports on the stall holding up its roof. His stress continued to mount as he watched the roof of the stall fall to the floor.

The lines in his field of vision began to disappear until there was only one left, which was now accompanied by several scales that showed him the angle of his sight. "I needed you to take a few shots to run some final calculations." Overwatch argued in a tone that made T imagine she was pouting.

"Have you finished calculating?" T asked while holstering his pistol and expanding his arm into its crossbow-form.

"Aim an inch further to the right and one and a half inches up." Keeping her instructions in mind, T popped out of cover again and fired a harpoon bolt at the opposing archer, watching as the bolt struck the woman right in the shoulder, right before she fell off the roof of the building she was on from leaning too far forward.

Following through with the momentum of his advantage, T clambered over the stall he was hiding behind and made a sprint to the two remaining gunmen, who were both hiding behind a natural boulder on the side of the road. When the two fired at him, the hacker raised his right arm to block the shots while drawing his pistol with the other – using it to shoot the revolver out of one of the gunmen's hands just as he got close enough to slide over the top of the boulder and deliver a double-kick to the remaining gunman, who was using a submachine gun.

As the man was sent back by the kick, T quickly turned on his spot to throw a punch at the disarmed gunman's face, the blow connected with a solid crack as his fist met the man's jaw. As the gunman, stunned by the sharp blow, staggered from the attack, T grabbed him by the scruff of his overcoat with his prosthetic hand before driving his pistol into the man's chest, firing twice at point-blank range where his heart should be and penetrating the man's Aura on the second shot.

Immediately after, T spun back around to face the remaining gunmen, who had now brought his SMG to bear on the hacker. The man was able to get a burst of four bullets out – which grazed T's brown coat – before T pushed the gun away by grabbing the arm that held the weapon. As the man continued to fire rounds into the air while trying to bring his aim back down, T delivered a solid punch to the man's throat with his metal fist. The force behind the punch crushed the man's windpipe and his grip on the weapon in his hands loosened long enough for T to rip it out and unload the rest of the clip into him.

As the man dropped to the ground, dead before he even hit the ground, T turned to check on the other gunman only to find that he had bled out. After a quick magazine swap, T holstered his pistol while still holding the SMG in one hand as he searched both bodies for their Scrolls. He put each to his prosthetic arm as a data mining software pulled all the files from both Scrolls before he dropped them on the ground and crushed both with his boot.

The hacker perked up a second later when he heard the tell-tale sounds of distant gunfire. "How close are we on plotting the quickest route to the Bullhead?" he asked as he began trekking down the mostly-deserted streets of Mistral.

"It's done, but I think you should know that the fastest way to the air-pad I have the ship stationed on is through a police blockade just a couple streets down – they seem to have secured the closest working elevator to the Mistral upper levels where the air-pads are located."

With a sigh, T brought out his Scroll and opened up a program he designed to keep track of Mistral police movement based on intercepted messages between dispatches and patrols. "Then we'll just have to cut through them. Cycle the bolts for an explosive round and redirect nearby police forces away from the blockade – the less we have to deal with, the better." He told the artificial intelligence, who complied with his orders by first highlighting all the areas of police activity on the map on his Scroll.

"Seems there are quite a few ground forces trying their best to keep the people calm, but there also look to be two airships patrolling the area – must be looking for the others." Overwatch explained.

"Knowing them they've probably split up or lost track of each other." T mused out loud as a mercenary with a rapier dropped down from a nearby tree and tried to take a jab at him. T responded by blocking the attack with his metal arm before throwing his Scroll at the man's face. The device struck him right on the nose and stunned him long enough for T to bat the sword out of the way and grab him by the neck, bringing him around in an overhead slam with his free hand on the man's body armour.

He remained in a daze after hitting the ground again, giving T enough time to leisurely retrieve his Scroll and pull out his pistol before putting two bullets in the man's head.

"Uh, Captain, I don't mean to alarm you, but it seems like we've got another problem ahead of us." Overwatch told him in a nervous voice as he took a quick sweep of the area to make sure there weren't any other mercenaries hiding in wait for the right chance to pounce.

After a few cautious seconds, T lowered his pistol and put his hand to the communicator in his ear. "Just give it to me as it is."

"Well, it seems that our little incident back at the hotel has caused quite a stir, and quite a few people have flocked together along the street further down from where we are right now – y'know, right in the middle of the route to the Bullhead." Overwatch explained. "The Mistral army has been dispatched there to try to quell things as, according to chatter, a few riots have broken out."

 _Things are deteriorating fast. It's best that we get out now before we cause any more harm._ The hacker thought as he continued down the cobblestone and dirt path to his destination. "Is there any alternative? Any buildings we could cut through?"

Overwatch thought for a second before replying. "There seems to be a multi-level market square coming up on your right. If you cut through that, you'll avoid the rioting altogether, though you'll still be heading for the checkpoint in front of the elevator."

"Well, it's better than-" a crack rung out through the air just a split second before a round clipped T in the shoulder, causing him to stagger forward as what few people that were still on the streets took cover. T did the same, quickly scrambling behind a wooden notice board on the side of the road as another two shots impacted the ground where the hacker had stood just a second earlier. "Give me a bearing on the shooter." He ordered the AI.

"Calculating," Overwatch responded as another shot penetrated the thin wood of the board concealing him. "Got it! The rock formation at your seven o'clock! It's a Huntsman, but he's out of effective weapon range."

Taking a chance, T slowly peaked around the edge of the wooden board he was hiding behind and got a look at the rock formation about two hundred metres away; shaped roughly like the tip of a giant sword poking out of the ground, or like the fingers of a giant hand kept close together in an open palm. Sure enough, another gunshot was heard a second later after poking his head out, which tore a chunk out of the edge of the board just as T slid back into cover. "Can we fire a missile at his position? Small explosive payload – just to keep him distracted."

"Possible, but there are civilians right at the foot of that rock formation. Even one of our smallest blasting effect missiles would still cause a rock slide that could kill half a dozen people." Overwatch explained as the hacker turned his head down the street and a line in his vision ran along it.

"How far are we to the market square?" T asked while bringing out his Scroll and opening it to go through his options for a missile strike.

"Another seventeen metres down the road, though given this Huntsman's accuracy, it's likely he'll be able to land a minimum of two shots on you before we can make it back into suitable cover." Overwatch's tone was increasingly distressed as a round punched a hole through the wood just above T's head. "Your Aura can only stand up to another shot, and if he places one on your legs…"

"Any chance you could guide me to deflect the shots?"

"Also possible, but given the speed of the rounds, your chances of successfully intercepting the bullet are less than thirty-nine percent."

T took a moment to weigh up his options, the reasonable part of his thinking constantly going back to the fact that a missile strike would put innocents in harm's way while the logical part asked him why he should care.

Eventually, his mind became clear with resolve as he took the risk. "Then make sure you warn me in time." He told Overwatch before bursting out of cover at a sprint, high-calibre rounds landing exactly where he had put his foot down a split-second before. By the time he had crossed half the distance between his cover and the market square entrance, however, the marksman's aim had adjusted far enough for him to land a shot on T's ankle, causing him to stumble as his Aura took the damage, flickering as it finally gave out.

A second passed as T anticipated the next shot, mentally preparing himself to evade or block the shot. However, as another second passed and no shots were fired, T wondered what had changed when Overwatch – almost as if sensing his concern – spoke up a split-second later. "I counted eight shots. It's likely he's either out of ammunition, or his gun jammed." Before T could voice his opinion on which was more likely, a shot passed right in front of the bridge of his nose. "Nope! Not out of ammo!"

The door to the market was right in front of him, within reach of at least three more strides. T was almost tempted to sprint even faster to cover the distance and just tackle the doors open, but he knew that would just leave him vulnerable to a well-placed shot. Then he would _really_ be in trouble.

Instead, he slowed down his pacing just in time as Overwatch announced, "Swing downwards – right to left, six o'clock!"

Pivoting on one foot, the hacker did exactly as he was told when he heard the thunderous clap of a gunshot, bringing his arm back to follow through with the full motion. Sure enough, a half-second later and his clenched fist came in contact with a bullet aimed straight at his heart, knocking it way off course and causing it to ricochet into the ground at his feet.

T only realised his mistake after he had blocked the bullet. By changing his course, he had lost his running momentum, meaning it would take even longer to get to the door now that he had stopped. If he tried, it was likely he would not make it to the door without getting shot again. His only solution left was to plan his course now while also blocking the next shot that came his way so that he could take off while the Huntsman had to remove his spent sniper shell.

"Overwatch-" the hacker didn't get to finish his request as the next sound of a gunshot could be heard in the air.

"Right between the eyes!" the AI warned, giving T enough time to duck out of the way of the bullet before taking off at a sprint for the doors behind him and tackling into one. The force of him slamming into the door forced it to give way, breaking the lock on it as the hacker tumbled into the dimly lit space of the market square. "Nice work, Captain. You're out of range, he'll have to change his position if he wants another shot at you."

"We'll be long gone by then." T reminded as he dusted off his open trench coat.

"Um, yeah, well, it seems I might have forgotten to add one minor detail about the market square." Overwatch said sheepishly. Before T had a chance to inquire about what she meant, he was met at eye-level by at least eight different guns and blades as he suddenly found himself surrounded by people.

It seemed, at first glance, that he had walked in on a strange assortment of people, with some wearing plate armour, others wearing combat body-armour, while others wore simple travel garb or even expensive-looking suits and dresses. However, after a quick scan over their faces with his cybernetic eye, T made the connections.

Many of them were drug dealers, weapon smugglers, wanted men, bandits, high-ranking members in crime syndicates both in _and_ out of Mistral. Some of them, in fact, with quite the bounties on their heads. Another quick glance at his surroundings, and T suddenly realised why he had the feeling that this was no ordinary market square.

 _Black market traders._ T thought to himself as his eye picked up on all the various illegal, experimental or stolen goods that lined the different stalls around the place and hung off the walls. _Should've seen this coming, but why are there so many mercenaries here?_

"Captain, I-"

"Just give me an exit route that puts me back on track." T whispered under his mask as he raised his hands in surrender, not wanting to hear Overwatch's excuses at this moment. "Afternoon." He said in greeting to the people present.

"Who are you?" one of the people in the crowd asked in a gruff voice.

"Hey, doesn't this guy have a bounty on his head?"

"Yeah, he does! Torchwick's paying a lot of money for him!"

"In that case I better collect – got bills to pay and debts to settle."

"Like hell you're collecting his bounty! He's worth enough Lien to finally get me away from Mistral PD."

A gentle beeping in his ear redirected the hacker's attention from the squabbling mercenaries to the blue line that appeared in his vision as the AI spoke over his communicator. "I've got a path for you; head to the first floor and exit out the eastern window." Overwatch explained as the line trailed out a window on the next floor up. "That will put you back on the street to the elevator."

"Nobody's going to collect my bounty," T said out loud, interrupting the arguments beginning to break out between the criminals. "Last warning; let me pass or the cleaners coming through here will have to scrape parts of you off the walls."

There was a moment of silence as everyone on the ground floor of the indoor market square took in exactly what T had just said before many of them burst out into laughter. In all honesty, even T found the absurdity of the claim laughable, but he was pressed for time and humour was _not_ on his list of priorities.

"Alright, then." T said as he dropped his arms before jabbing his left hand out to grab an assault rifle pointed at him by its barrel, quickly reaching for the wrist of the man that held it as he pulled himself towards the criminal before swinging it towards the crowd of mercenaries and criminals. The hacker made sure to move his left hand over the man's hand that held on to the forward grip before driving his right elbow into the man's ribcage to get him to loosen his grip on the trigger. Moving his own hand in its place, T discharged a drawn-out burst of rifle fire into the tightly-packed crowd before letting go of the fore-grip and swinging the rifle around at the man, breaking it against his head.

From the displaced crowd, a woman with a revolver quickly took aim at T and fired several shots. Dodging the first bullet, T located a drug trafficker within arm's reach and quickly spun in place while reaching out a hand to grab him. Still too confused at what had just happened, the drug trafficker didn't resist as T pulled him towards him, using the man as a shield to catch the three revolver rounds that came his way before returning fire with the SMG in the man's hand, which cut the woman down quickly.

A sudden cry of rage quickly redirected T's attention to the cat-eared Faunus wielding a machete behind him, charging straight for him with the blade raised to strike. Using the one second gap it took for the Faunus to reach him, T ducked under the arm of the drug trafficker that he was holding up before bracing his free hand on the man's chest, putting him right in between the machete blade and the hacker.

The scream of pain that the man gave off as the machete sunk into his back made it clear that he had not died of his gunshot wounds quickly, but it garnered no sympathy from the hacker. T thought little of it as he bent his knees to lower himself as he placed his boot on the dying man's chest, kicking him into the Faunus and throwing both of them back.

Another man was on him immediately, broadsword raised and aimed to cleave his head off. T met the blade with his metal arm before sliding it along its length so that he could wrap his prosthetic fingers around the man's hand and pull him closer while drawing his pistol with his left hand. He pulled the man towards him at the same time as he drew the pistol and pushed it into the man's stomach, firing off three silenced rounds at point-blank before firing a fourth right where the man's heart should be.

Two women came at him this time, both wielding twin daggers as one tried to drive them through his neck while the other aimed for his waist. Weighing up his odds, T decided to go for a risky move; dodging out of the way of the woman aiming her blades at his waist while also throwing his hands out to catch the daggers of the other woman by the blades. With one of them in the grip of his metal hand and the other lodged against his pistol, T thrust his closed fist forward, smacking the woman in the face with her own dagger. With the lady in a daze from just one hit, T took a risk to get under her guard and elbow her in the jaw, hearing a satisfying crack as his metallic elbow hit a soft spot and she fell over.

Too preoccupied with one of the knife-wielding crazy women, the hacker was nearly stabbed in the back by both four-inch blades of the other before his senses alerted him to the danger in time to step out of the way, escaping severe wounds with only a deep cut on his left arm as one of the daggers managed to slice at his arm.

Drawing his arm back, T quickly extended his right arm and channelled what little reserves of Aura he still had into his Semblance, targeting the woman that had attacked him and causing her to suddenly collapse to the floor on all fours as T lined up his pistol and fired two shots. One of the shots was stopped by her Aura while the other went straight through her neck.

After a quick glance to assess how bad the cut on his arm was, T crossed the distance between himself and the other knife-wielding woman in a couple strides before dropping into a crouch to grab her by the head while she was still in her daze. Before she likely even realised what was happening, T had already rolled her onto her back and gotten her into the best position to snap her neck with a single twist.

With heavy breaths of exhaustion, the hacker rose back to full height as he took in his surroundings. Since the shooting had started, some of the criminals and vagrants in the multi-level market square had gone into a panic and started fighting one another, while others were using the chance to kill off competition, or stake their claim on the bounty of another.

Immediately, T's attention was drawn to the half a dozen men and women with their weapons drawn, all gathered together in an arc just a couple feet out of arm's reach as they watched him warily. "Anyone else?" T taunted as he swapped out the clip in his pistol.

His answer came with the sound of a body hitting the floor with a roll just behind him. Turning around, T barely caught the wrist of a young girl in a hooded cloak as she thrusted her hand out at him. Catching the lady's wrist, a blade suddenly sprung out from a hidden mechanism concealed in her long sleeve, aimed directly at his neck. She was stronger than she appeared, and T had to use both hands just to keep her hand from getting any closer. She responded by using her free hand to grab the hacker's prosthetic arm in a vice-like grip that T _felt_ as he was sure the hand would make a miniscule dent in the plating.

Their struggle for dominance went on for a few seconds longer as T tried to summon up enough strength to use his Semblance again, only for the girl's strength to disappear like a cloud of smoke while she gasped in shock as a blade was thrust through her chest.

T let go in an instant as the blade was pulled from her and her form collapsed to the floor, revealing SK standing behind her. "Back-to-back!" he shouted, coaxing T into action instantly. As soon as he spun around to cover the rogue's flank, another man with a sword brought it down to cut him down the middle, blocked only by T's arm.

"How long were you going to stand and watch before you did something?" T asked, bluffing as he hadn't actually noticed SK during the scuffle with all the criminals in here.

"Shut up," the rogue replied while blocking a few strikes from a halberd-wielder on his end. "What's the plan to get us out of here?"

"The Bullhead is waiting for us on the cliff-side air-pads." T replied while parrying a strike and countering with a punch from his metal arm. "There's a police blockade between me and the elevator that'll take me up there."

"Uh, you mean 'us', right?" SK asked while ducking under a swipe while kicking out at his attacker, quickly changing stance a second later to block several bullets being fired his way.

"No; you can turn invisible, so it's no problem for you. Me on the other hand…" T quickly reached out to grab hold of a man that stumbled too close to him while using his free hand to pull the pins on the grenades hanging off his bandolier. Before the man even realised what had happened, the cyborg had already shoved him towards a makeshift stall that sold various types of weapons, which soon became a pile of rubble following an explosion.

"Got it. I'll see what I can do about their firepower without them noticing me." SK replied before switching his falchion to its laser rifle form and firing a continuous stream at a team of thugs that got too close to him. "Try to keep up." He taunted over his shoulder before turning invisible as he dashed into the chaos.

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, T turned his focus on the route to the window that would put him back on the street now that the violence was not so intense or focussed on him. Following the line of light in his vision, he saw he had to make it up a set of stairs to get to the next floor before getting to the window. The next thing he focussed on were the men and women that stood in his way to reach his exit, marking each of them whether they looked like they were going to attack him or not – if they stood in his way, they were a threat.

From there, the hacker was a continuous flurry of motion, ducking and weaving between the crowd while throwing a punch out or firing a couple rounds into anyone that stood in his way. When he reached the base of the stairs, T's eyes locked on a man with a large greatsword standing halfway up the staircase, who had just thrown a man coming down the stairs over the railings before turning his attention to the hacker.

Not wanting to waste any time with the man, T activated one of his explosive bolts as he switched his arm into its crossbow-mode. As he fired the crossbow bolt straight at the man's chest, the swordsman quickly raised his blade in front of him to block the projectile – stopping it, but not the explosion that followed immediately after.

The man was thrown from the staircase with the force of the explosion, though – to T's luck – the wooden staircase itself remained intact. Rushing up the flight of stairs, the hacker quickly realised his mistake as the explosion drew the attention of many of the armed criminals on the next floor up, who then proceeded to cut him off at the staircase.

In an attempt to avoid the oncoming spray of projectiles they sent his way, T vaulted over the railings of the staircase, his metal arm firmly latched on the wooden handle as he used his left hand to take aim and fire at the two men blocking the top of the stairs while also using his momentum to throw himself further up the stairs.

The tactic worked as the two men dropped to the floor from their wounds just as T's boots hit the staircase again at a run, carrying him the rest of the way as he engaged in hand-to-hand with anyone in his way until finally reaching the window exit.

"Captain, incoming rocket-propelled projectile!" Overwatch quickly blurted out through the earpiece he wore just as he forced apart the window by smashing the lock with his bare fists. Quickly looking over his shoulder, T saw the object of the AI's sudden worry as an RPG was rapidly approaching him. Taking a calculated risk, T leapt out of the window without clearly looking where he would land right before the rocket exploded against the wall next to the window, causing wood and metal to splinter and fragment just as he landed on the pavement, leaving a burning hole in the side of the multi-storey building he had just jumped from.

"A little dramatic, don't you think?" the rough voice of SK asked over the intercom.

T didn't bother looking for the rogue or wondering how he had seen the explosion, instead opting to get back on the route to finally leave Mistral before the situation deteriorated further. "Keep moving; if you're not at the airship once I make my final flight checks-"

The sound of a metal blade sliding through flesh could be briefly heard on the other end of the line before SK interrupted him. "I'll be there – try not to lead anyone up there while you're at it." the rogue said in a condescending tone before hanging up.

T continued down the path before stopping just short of the blockade, quickly using some carefully placed crates and a balcony on the side of a building to scale its wall and get on top of the roof for a vantage point over the police defences.

From what he could see, they had six men and women stationed at the blockade, standing vigilant against anyone coming their way. It seemed, to T's luck, he had arrived just as a pair of civilians had approached the blockade to try and talk the policemen into letting them up the elevator. After a few seconds of looking over their Scroll IDs, the police let them through without any problems.

T doubted that it would go as smoothly for him, but he wasn't planning on doing this the easy way.

Along with the armed guards stationed at the blockade, scans from T's Scroll told him that they had a couple of automatic machinegun turrets set up on either side of the blockade as well. For a hacker of his skill, reprogramming the turrets was as easy as opening up the main data-files and getting them to target the blockade itself. T held off from firing them immediately, however, as he first tapped into the elevator controls to command it back down. Then, he drew a retracted bolt from the pouch on his belt and slid it into his arm, which unfolded to its full length as the metal arm changed into a crossbow.

The circumstances had given the hacker the choice to change his earlier plan to blast through the blockade with whatever he had at his disposal, and he took it without a second thought.

Taking aim with his natural eye closed and his bionic eye opened to give him targeting aid, T fired the crossbow at the feet of one of the guards standing outside the blockade, which quickly began to produce smoke just as T used the Scroll in his other hand to activate the turrets.

Between the cloud of smoke and the turret fire on either side of them, the guards quickly went into a panic, some even abandoning their post as T dropped down to the ground, taking his time with walking at a brisk pace to make it through the blockade and to the elevator.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan, until the turrets suddenly stalled and stopped firing.

Though he wanted to take a look at their interior scan and schematics to see where he had gone wrong, T knew he had precious little time before the police got themselves back into formation and posed a threat to him. The hacker broke into a run as he vaulted over the foldable barricade the police had put in place just as the smoke began to clear and the first few officers poked their heads out of cover.

Abruptly, T made a sudden change in direction as he twisted perpendicular to the direction he had been previously running in to charge and tackle into a police officer. After a quick blow to the head to knock him unconscious, the hacker grabbed hold of the foldable grenade launcher that the officer had hooked to his belt and wrested it out of its safety straps, along with a couple grenades from the bandolier the officer also wore.

Having wasted too much time already, T had to keep his head low as he ran when three policemen – completely recovered from the earlier shock of being fired upon and covered in a cloud of smoke – began firing on him.

Not bothering to check what kind of ammunition it was, T quickly primed the grenade already in the weapon and fired it back at the police officers. As it turned out, the weapon had been loaded with a non-lethal flare grenade, which produced a bright, blinding light that gave T the cover he needed to make it to the elevator and hack into the override with his phone, causing the platform to go up without closing its doors.

As the elevator climbed the vertical height as fast as T could run, the hacker loaded one of the grenade rounds he had picked off the man – an explosive shot – and fired it down at the police blockade along with a spare explosive bolt he had in reserve. The explosion that followed completely decimated the barricades and cover that had been erected and threw many of the officers too close to the explosion a good three metres into the air.

 _If any of them lived through that,_ T thought to himself as he loaded the last shot he had into the grenade launcher. _They're gonna want to take a few months off work._

When the elevator finally reached the sky-dock level, the first thing that caught his eye as the elevator slowed its ascent to make sure it stopped at the floor was a flash of steel. T's immediate response was to drop the grenade launcher in his hands and draw his pistol, but he stopped halfway when he saw his potential attacker was merely SK, holding his falchion in the ready position.

"What took you so long?" he asked while sheathing his blade.

"A blockade and two malfunctioning turrets." T stated while picking up the grenade launcher off the floor. "I assume your handiwork?"

"Your welcome." SK allowed T to take the lead as they stepped away from the elevator.

"Next time you want to help, just don't." T reprimanded in his neutral tone of voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the rogue asked with an annoyed glare, to which his only reply was another glare from the hacker. "Fine, I suppose you want me to wait here for the others while you go start up the airship?"

Calculating that he was now an appropriate distance from the elevator, T pivoted to face the direction he had just come from and gripped the grenade launcher in both hands. "No." The round he fired hit the elevator where he assumed one part of the dual gear-and-rack system was, causing it to explode and splinter into pieces as the elevator caved in under its own weight without the appropriate support. A couple seconds later the other gear responsible for carrying the elevator up and down broke loose, causing the whole platform to fall the seventy metre distance to the bottom.

SK's expression was one of confusion and shock as he lowered his arms – which he had raised to shield himself from the blast – and turned to T. "The hell did you do that for?" his tone was restrained, but the hacker could tell that the rogue was trying his hardest not to shout.

"Covering our tracks – the others will find their own way up." He said while moving to the edge of the platform they were on to throw the grenade launcher over the edge. "The Bullhead is on Platform Six." He stated before taking off at a brisk pace, following the mapping in his vision.

The raven-haired teen followed close behind him as they made their way through the sparsely populated sky-dock. Those that were still there stayed clear of the two or were pushing anxiously to board the next airship out of Mistral.

T realised what had happened here today would have repercussions and consequences for months to come – putting not only him but his team on the Remnant wanted list, but the hacker couldn't care less if he had to burn down an entire Kingdom if it meant putting an end to Cinder Fall.

He and SK had just arrived on the walkway that led out to the platform where Overwatch was docked – extending off from the cliff-face and supported from underneath by several long metal beams – when a couple of airships came into view, having suddenly risen up from below the platform.

One of the airships aimed its forward weapons at T – if the laser-sight dots that appeared on his chest were any indication – while the other glided over the walkway to the platform in front of them as the doors on its side opened up to allow several armoured men – most likely Mistral special forces – to slide down a set of cables ropes and drop to the walkway.

Just as T began weighing up his options, the loudspeaker on one of the airships came to life in a burst of static. "Attention, this is the RSCD, we have you surrounded, surrender yourselves now or we will open fire!" As the voice over the loudspeaker said this, a third ship flew in, slowing to a hover right above the walkway behind them before deploying more soldiers to cut off their escape.

Though he heard the rogue draw his weapon out of its sheath, prepared to fight, he could tell by the elevated heartbeat and breathing rate coming across with the data from SK's wrist-bracer that he understood the situation they were in. "RSCD," he muttered, unintentionally thinking out loud. "Mistral's Ronin Special Combat Division; well-armed."

Outgunned, surrounded on both sides by Anima's finest and down by half his team.

Still, it wouldn't stop T from taking them down with him.


	33. Chapter 28

Enter Stage Right, Exit Stage Left

 **A/N: Surprise, surprise! This story's still alive! I won't try to come up with an excuse for the infrequent posting, because it really boils down to me needing to pick up the pace. But I'm starting to get back into the feel of it, and if I space my time properly from now on, I might just get back to regular posting (give or take a week or two). But hey, better than radio silence.**

 **Onto the story!**

"This is your last warning: drop your weapons or we will open fire – now!" the voice over the loudspeaker demanded as SK glanced over his shoulder at T.

"You gotta give me something to work with here." The rogue muttered. "If you even _have_ a plan."

"Go low when I give the signal – take out the Ronins on your side and I'll take out the ones on mine." The hacker replied.

"Oh, yeah, great plan!" SK replied sarcastically as he felt his anxiety rising with each passing second. "I mean, it's not like there are three gunships locked onto us!"

"Just three…more…seconds," T stretched out the pauses between each word to stall for time before he suddenly raised his Scroll and tapped a button on the screen. The effect of whatever hack T pulled off was immediately visible; each of the gunships broke their steady hover as they dipped to one side or another, their flight patterns out of control. "Go, now!"

The rogue burst into action immediately as his form flickered until he vanished while sprinting across the walkway – back the way they came. Three of the five special forces soldiers let loose a spray of bullets in hopes that at least one of the rounds they fired would hit the invisible teen, but SK had used this style of fighting enough to know how to zig-zag between the shots as he closed the distance before striking out at the closest Ronin.

Pressing his offensive, the onyx-haired teen had a good initial start as he cut two of the Ronins down in quick succession, but quickly found himself overwhelmed as the three remaining soldiers used their melee weapons against him. Two of the Ronins wielded tachis and drew his focus as SK had to meet their strikes, while the third used a one-handed hammer and swung where the rogue was exposed.

Unintentionally, his mind kept going back to his final memories of Vacuo, and how he was unable to defeat the trio of Desert Raiders he so hastily demanded be brought forth. The memories worked to SK's disadvantage, however, as each flash of that eventful evening distracted him from the fight at hand.

Quickly the three wore down SK before a sharp blow to the back of his right knee by the hammer-wielder brought SK to his knees as his Aura finally gave out.

Before he had a chance to get back up, all three warriors were on him again. He managed to catch the blade of one of the sword-wielders with his falchion and caught the man with the hammer by the wrist, but was unable to defend himself from the Ronin that put his tachi to SK's neck.

 _Just like before, I guess._ The rogue thought to himself as he defiantly pushed against the other two Ronins. _Doubt I'll get out of this one, though._ With a wind-up, the man was about to bring the blade back to decapitate him, only to be shot in the back twice and fall over.

The rogue only needed to take a momentary glance to see that T had been the one to fire the shots, holding his pistol in one hand while he had one of the Ronin's in a headlock, using the soldier as a human shield against the other Ronins.

Seeing an opening, SK snapped back to attention as he swept out his leg to trip up the hammer-wielder before focusing his attention on the second swordsman. He used both his falchion and his bracer to push the Ronin on the defensive before using his blade to nick the swordsman's wrist, causing him to lower his guard for SK to deliver a punch to the face that knocked him out.

Once the swordsman was dealt with, SK then dropped to one knee as he twisted around, changing Scorched Divide's weapon form to fire a beam of energy into the remaining Ronin's chest and knock him off the edge of the walkway.

With the Mistral special forces soldiers on his end of the walkway dealt with, the rogue turned to help T, but hesitated when he saw that they were in close-quarters combat – barely a couple centimetres apart from one another and constantly moving. His hesitation left him a second later when he remembered that he didn't really care if he hit T or not, hands moving to charge and fire his weapon.

Taking aim, SK fired two streams of energy that met their mark both times, knocking away two Ronins that had been flanking T from either side. This left the hacker free to dispatch the one he was facing head-on before putting two bullets into each of the remaining warriors.

The onyx-haired teen barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief when the roar of an airship's engines drew his attention to one of the gunships, which had managed to regain controls from T's hack. A second after its laser sights trailed up SK's body, the craft's twin machine guns spat forth a burst of bullets that the rogue first tried to deflect with his blade before realising the task was too arduous and taking off at a sprint.

His balance was off from the start, however, and the rogue tumbled into a roll after only a few steps. Bracing himself against the oncoming shower of bullets, SK was both surprised and relieved when a barrier suddenly sprang up from the floor of the walkway to protect him. He looked over to T to confirm his suspicion that the hacker had been the cause of it as another barrier came up to protect T just as he crouched down.

SK tapped the side of his glasses to activate their intercom function before shouting to be heard over the sound of bullets impacting the barrier in front of him. "Can you make it back to the Bullhead?"

"If you can keep it on you," T's voice crackled back over the comms. "But I won't be able to get her airborne fast enough to take out the gunship before it cuts you down."

"Just do that hacking thing again and shut it down!"

"It won't work; the system likely adapted to stop my signal from affecting it – and even if it didn't, the pilots know how to fix it this time. Faster than before."

"So then what? My Aura's down and I don't have any heavy firepower, so I can't cloak and I can't bring it down!"

"You'll just have to try." T's tone was neutral and calculated, giving SK the sense that there was no other option. "Those other two gunships will be back any second now, and then we'll all be done for."

Not for the first time that day, the rogue let out a long sigh as he checked the charge on Scorched Divide. "Fine, just draw its attention first so I can get a good shot on it."

There were a few seconds of silence over the communications line before the rogue heard T say, "On three."

SK counted down along with T, keeping his eyes on the hacker as T burst out of cover and made a beeline for the Bullhead. A couple of seconds later, the pilot of the gunship spotted T and rotated to fire on him, giving SK the opportunity he needed to prop his laser rifle on top of his cover and fire a beam of energy at the cockpit.

As the beam glanced across the cockpit's view-screen, it did little more than draw a trail of molten glass that warped the pilot's visibility slightly before the gunship's focus was back on SK. This time, instead of a shower of bullets, two missiles launched out of either side of the cockpit straight at SK's location.

 _What was I thinking? That glass has to be at least two and a half inches thick._ Knowing that his cover would not stand up to that kind of firepower, the rogue dove the other way just as one of the missiles destroyed his shoulder-height barrier while the other passed just inches over his head.

While on his back, SK continued to fire streams of white-hot energy at one of the gunship's engines this time. The metal plating around the left engine was just beginning to glow red when another spray of bullets came his way – trailing along the walkway towards him. To save himself SK rolled to one side as the high-impact bullets hit the pathway right where he was a second ago before firing another laserbeam at the same engine.

Before the gunship was able to fire its guns again, the beam of energy from SK's laser rifle finally burnt through the outer casing protecting the engine, causing a venting failure which resulted in a chain reaction as the aircraft's left engine blew out before shutting off. The rogue let out a shout of success as the gunship veered off to one side and dipped down, just as a line of bullet hit the walkway in an arc a metre from him.

SK's relief was short-lived, however, as when he made to get up the other two gunships lifted into view on either side of him, their weapons primed and ready to take him down.

"Shit." He muttered under his breath while trying to summon up enough Aura to turn invisible – however much that would help. A pair of machineguns went off before he managed to find the strength within him, but – to his surprise – the guns that fired were not aimed at him, and were instead aimed at the wing of the gunship in front of him.

He dropped to the floor as the airship in front of him turned around, revealing that the shots had come from another airship behind it – a standard-issue Mistral Police search-ship that was still speeding towards the two gunship.

Under the combined firepower of two Ronin gunships, the boat-like aircraft was quickly battened by the oncoming barrage, damaging its sail-like wings, but not doing enough damage to stop its collision course with the first gunship.

As the two aircrafts collided, two figures jumped out of the police airship and landed on the walkway next to SK right before the two ships smacked into each other – creating a mid-air explosion. The rogue only needed one glance out of his peripheral vision to know that the two were Mason and Tanner, who continued to fire on the remaining gunship as soon as they landed, with minimal effect due to their limited firepower.

When Tanner's pistols ran out of ammunition, he holstered them before drawing two Dust crystals out of his pockets in one lightning-fast motion. With a crystal in each of his hands, the brunette channelled his Aura into the palms of his hands to charge the crystals before hurling them at the aircraft. The two crystals exploded when they made contact, but did little more than shake the whole airship.

"Aim for the engines!" SK shouted to be heard over the gunfire. "These things can't stay in the air without both engines!"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do?" Tanner asked rhetorically while reloading his triple-barrelled pistol with both hands. "Are you waiting for a formal invitation or something? Fire on that thing!"

SK was about to reply when the gunship fired its both its missile launchers and machineguns simultaneously. All three of them were about to dodge in different directions when a wide barrier suddenly popped up from the floor in front of Mason. Halfway between either Tanner and SK, all three of them moved to get behind the barrier as a pair of missiles soared over their heads while another pair struck the barricade – doing some damage, but not enough to destroy it.

"Did you see that?" Mason yelled, though SK barely heard him over the deafening vibrations of machinegun bullets pelting the barrier he had his back pressed to. "That was freakin' awesome! We were all like, 'Ka ka ka ka', then when we smacked into the gunship it was all like, 'Phoosh'!"

"Yeah, awesome." SK exclaimed as he tried to muster the strength to use his Semblance. "Dying now, however, would _not_ be awesome. So, who has a plan?"

"Why don't you stand up and draw its fire so we can make a break for it?" Tanner suggested, which earned him a glare from the rogue. "Hey, you asked!"

Before SK had a chance to reply, all three of their Scrolls began ringing simultaneously. Over the machinegun fire, the three only realised their Scrolls were ringing by the vibrations they made, but all three still picked up the line. "Head's up, three o'clock."

At the sound of T's voice, all three turned just as a pair of missiles streaked through the air and struck the gunship, blowing out its left side. As it spiralled out of control, T's Bullhead slowly repositioned itself to be parallel to the walkway before lowering down next to it. SK watched the gunship for a second as it plummeted towards the ground far below before turning his attention back to the Bullhead and the hatch on its side as it opened to reveal the hacker standing to one side.

"You couldn't have done that sooner?" Tanner asked as he vaulted over the barrier, a smirk directed at T.

"We're on the clock – get on." T stated as if it were a simple command. Mason and Tanner were the first ones to hop into the hatch before SK, who took a moment to make sure he stuck the landing.

As soon as his feet touched the floor, Tanner turned to the cockpit and shouted out, "Ok, we're all on – let's get the hell out of here!" A second later, the Bullhead began to pull away from the Mistral air-yard, doing a wide circle as T flew the ship into a good position to speed away. SK reached for the manual controls to shut the door on the side of the craft, but as he did he also spotted several more police airships coming their way.

"Head's up; company's coming!" he exclaimed while hitting the button to shut the door.

"Doesn't matter," T replied as SK found his grip on the handrail by the door. "-We're already gone." T didn't say anything after that as the airship's thrusters kicked in and put Mistral far behind them.

* * *

 **Present Day…**

At this point, Tanner resorted to blowing puffs of air in order to burn time as he tried to think of something to say. He tried to come up with _anything_ that could remedy or at least cushion the blow of what had just been revealed, but nothing came to mind that wouldn't solidify the point clearly on the minds of the other three in the room: his team had directly attacked Mistral.

There was no justifying the dozens of dead Mistrali officers and fighters that day; something the swordsman had learned from his time amongst the other three, and had come to begrudgingly accept.

As Tanner had predicted, Glynda was the first one to break the silence after the revelation. "Well, I hope you all realise that there is no way we can disregard the fact that you committed a capital offence against a Kingdom – never mind the fact that it was a foreign nation that we have no way of contacting."

"Oh, come on. You can't ignore the number of criminals we killed during that little 'incident' just because we had to kill a few policemen and soldiers." SK reasoned, but the blonde witch looked unconvinced. "Cinder and Roman Torchwick sent some of the best assassins and hitmen after us that day. They've got a long list of criminal deeds that sure as hell weigh up to more than what we did."

"That does not excuse you from the blatant act of terrorism committed that day! By right, all four of you are still on the Remnant-wide wanted list as the unknown terrorists responsible for that incident." Glynda continued.

"It was self-defence!" the rogue snapped back. "And this was hardly a terror attack – we were running for our lives! At least we _tried_ to avoid getting civilians involved, but when someone fires an RPG at you, you either dodge out of the way, or take the hit and die."

"Three people _died_ when that rocket hit the bank behind you," Jay snapped. "-Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Everyone knew the figures of the incident in Mistral; it was all over the news back when it had happened. Tanner had read the after-action reports from both the media and from Overwatch, but it only occurred to him then that what they did could have serious consequences if they were in the wrong place.

SK's reply, however, was cold and serious. "Yes, it does mean something to me," his composure didn't waver as he spoke. "-But better them than me."

Jay looked like he was going to say something snarky back at the rogue when Qrow raised his hand. "Enough." He stated, directing his words at the blonde. "You can't judge the weight of your actions against the actions of others." Qrow shot towards SK. "And from where I'm sitting, what you did was no less wrong that any of those assassins you killed that day."

"It had to be done." Mason stated with a calm resolve, which was very unlike of him. "The bounty hunters that came after us sucked as they were, but the police? The police were terribly coordinated, poorly armed and were more concerned with the people than catching us." He listed off on one hand. "TBH if we were in somewhere like Atlas or Vacuo, they might've caught us."

"Ok, we're not here to take swings at the MPD, so can you get to the part that's useful?" Jay asked, the irritation at this interrogation dragging on clear in his voice.

Mason, however, immediately responded with a maniacal laughter while slamming his fist on the table as he got control of his laughing fit. Looking up at the disturbed expressions of the three sitting across from him, the redhead wiped a tear from his eye before responding. "Is he serious right now?" when he received no reply, he continued with his arms raised to either side of him. "Come on, admit it; we're not only here because you wanna know what led up to this. We're here because we've been fighting Vale and Mistral and Atlas and practically everyone for, like, half a year and you want to know how we did it."

"I don't think you understand your position ri-"

"We literally kicked the asses of everyone we've come across – including yours! So now you wanna know why you sucked, and what you can do to un-suck." Mason finished, interrupting Jay's comeback and effectively leaving him stunned silent.

Tanner was surprised by Mason's perspective of the situation, after taking a moment to figure out what the redhead was trying to say. To him, this was merely an interrogation to understand how deeply MSTT's connection with Cinder ran for Qrow and the others to decide on a punishment for them.

The swordsman – for all his experience with mafias and gangsters – hadn't considered that they were trying to _learn_ from them.

"That's…one of the things we were hoping you'd help us out with – yes." Qrow's admittance drew everyone's attention back to the matter at hand. "But we'll come around to that later. As you can't tell, we can't exactly send your 'feedback' to Mistral, nor can we for the foreseeable future, so why don't you four tell me what happened with this 'Codename: Trojan'?"

After a quick "Boom, ten points," from the berserker, T let out an annoyed sigh when he thought back to the incident they were being asked to call to mind. "There's not much to say; we wouldn't be here right now if it had worked."

"Yes, but we want to know _why_ it didn't work." Glynda stressed her words, conveying her frustration that they were dodging the question through her tone. "What went wrong; did they predict you were going to make a move? Was your informant compromised?"

"There was no informant." SK stated with a slight raise in his tone, drawing everyone's attention to him. "Trojan was a bust – nothing more than a trap set up to lure us in while they cut off our escape."

"By Cinder?" Qrow asked with a raised eyebrow. "I would've thought you'd be able to tell if she was laying out a trap for you."

"Yeah, that's uh," Tanner began as he searched for the right words to describe what had happened. "-it's a little tricky to explain what happened here, but it explains why T didn't immediately call it off on the off-chance it was a trap." He looked over to the hacker expectantly. "T, I think you're better at explaining this."

A few seconds passed as T fiddled with his damaged Scroll without saying a word before he looked back up at the three sitting across from him and began his explanation. "The risk I took with pursuing Trojan was calculated. The chance of Trojan being real, and the possibilities the information he might have provided us would have opened up, far outweighed the consequences of if it were a trap." He paused as he touched the table, causing lines of light to appear on it as he interfaced with the table using his arm. "When it all went down, well, I suppose it all made sense in hindsight, but Trojan caught us – me – off-guard because of something I couldn't have predicted."

"And what was that?" Jay asked, his eyebrows furrowing together in curiosity.

"Well, I suppose it's a funny story, looking back on it." Tanner added with a chuckle. "You wanna tell it, T?"


End file.
